Greenleaf Trust Sells 519 Shares of The Hershey Company (NYSE:HSY)

Greenleaf Trust reduced its position in shares of The Hershey Company (NYSE:HSY) by 5.0% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 9,788 shares of the company’s stock after selling 519 shares during the period. Greenleaf Trust’s holdings in Hershey were worth $1,825,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in HSY. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Hershey during the fourth quarter worth about $411,828,000. Nordea Investment Management AB increased its holdings in Hershey by 143.7% during the third quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 2,465,403 shares of the company’s stock worth $496,039,000 after buying an additional 1,453,819 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its holdings in Hershey by 2,693.0% during the first quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 1,094,755 shares of the company’s stock worth $237,156,000 after buying an additional 1,055,559 shares during the last quarter. Morgan Stanley increased its holdings in Hershey by 57.2% during the fourth quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 2,648,666 shares of the company’s stock worth $613,352,000 after buying an additional 964,019 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its holdings in Hershey by 36.7% during the fourth quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 1,378,426 shares of the company’s stock worth $319,202,000 after buying an additional 369,940 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 57.96% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Hershey

In other Hershey news, CFO Steven E. Voskuil sold 1,500 shares of Hershey stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $188.97, for a total transaction of $283,455.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 29,816 shares in the company, valued at $5,634,329.52. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In other news, CAO Jennifer Mccalman sold 453 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $198.54, for a total value of $89,938.62. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 1,862 shares in the company, valued at approximately $369,681.48. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CFO Steven E. Voskuil sold 1,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $188.97, for a total transaction of $283,455.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 29,816 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,634,329.52. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 3,453 shares of company stock worth $670,244 over the last three months. 0.34% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Hershey Trading Up 0.1 %

Shares of Hershey stock opened at $185.02 on Friday. The Hershey Company has a 1 year low of $178.82 and a 1 year high of $276.88. The firm has a market cap of $37.73 billion, a PE ratio of 20.44, a PEG ratio of 2.84 and a beta of 0.34. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.92, a current ratio of 0.97 and a quick ratio of 0.52. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $192.31 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $190.93.

Hershey (NYSE:HSY) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, February 8th. The company reported $2.02 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.95 by $0.07. Hershey had a net margin of 16.67% and a return on equity of 51.79%. The business had revenue of $2.66 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.72 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $2.02 earnings per share. Hershey’s revenue for the quarter was up .2% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts expect that The Hershey Company will post 9.6 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Hershey Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 20th were given a dividend of $1.37 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 16th. This is a positive change from Hershey’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.19. This represents a $5.48 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.96%. Hershey’s payout ratio is presently 60.55%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms recently issued reports on HSY. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price objective on shares of Hershey from $205.00 to $200.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday. Morgan Stanley downgraded shares of Hershey from an “equal weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and reduced their target price for the stock from $191.00 to $183.00 in a research note on Monday, February 12th. Piper Sandler reduced their target price on shares of Hershey from $200.00 to $179.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, April 15th. BNP Paribas downgraded shares of Hershey from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $208.00 target price for the company. in a research note on Tuesday, March 26th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on shares of Hershey from $185.00 to $193.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, February 9th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, sixteen have issued a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $223.33.

Hershey Company Profile

The Hershey Company, together with its subsidiaries, engages in the manufacture and sale of confectionery products and pantry items in the United States and internationally. The company operates through three segments: North America Confectionery, North America Salty Snacks, and International. It offers chocolate and non-chocolate confectionery products; gum and mint refreshment products, including mints, chewing gums, and bubble gums; protein bars; pantry items, such as baking ingredients, toppings, beverages, and sundae syrups; and snack items comprising spreads, bars, snack bites, mixes, popcorn, and pretzels.