Tokio Marine Asset Management Co. Ltd. Decreases Stock Holdings in The Hershey Company (NYSE:HSY)

Tokio Marine Asset Management Co. Ltd. decreased its holdings in shares of The Hershey Company (NYSE:HSY) by 1.6% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 3,592 shares of the company’s stock after selling 60 shares during the quarter. Tokio Marine Asset Management Co. Ltd.’s holdings in Hershey were worth $670,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Farmers & Merchants Trust Co of Chambersburg PA raised its stake in Hershey by 7.7% during the fourth quarter. Farmers & Merchants Trust Co of Chambersburg PA now owns 754 shares of the company’s stock valued at $141,000 after purchasing an additional 54 shares in the last quarter. Arthur M. Cohen & Associates LLC raised its stake in shares of Hershey by 0.4% in the third quarter. Arthur M. Cohen & Associates LLC now owns 14,261 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,853,000 after acquiring an additional 55 shares during the period. Hazlett Burt & Watson Inc. raised its stake in shares of Hershey by 1.1% in the third quarter. Hazlett Burt & Watson Inc. now owns 5,258 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,052,000 after acquiring an additional 55 shares during the period. Accurate Wealth Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Hershey by 4.2% in the fourth quarter. Accurate Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,428 shares of the company’s stock valued at $272,000 after acquiring an additional 58 shares during the period. Finally, McGlone Suttner Wealth Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of Hershey by 5.4% in the fourth quarter. McGlone Suttner Wealth Management Inc. now owns 1,138 shares of the company’s stock valued at $212,000 after acquiring an additional 58 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 57.96% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on HSY. Edward Jones reissued a “hold” rating on shares of Hershey in a research note on Friday, April 19th. Sanford C. Bernstein raised shares of Hershey from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $235.00 target price on the stock in a research note on Monday, January 29th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on shares of Hershey from $185.00 to $193.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, February 9th. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed a “sector perform” rating and issued a $213.00 price target on shares of Hershey in a research note on Friday, March 15th. Finally, Piper Sandler reduced their price target on shares of Hershey from $200.00 to $179.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, April 15th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, sixteen have assigned a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $223.33.

Hershey Stock Down 0.5 %

NYSE:HSY opened at $186.16 on Friday. The Hershey Company has a fifty-two week low of $178.82 and a fifty-two week high of $276.88. The stock has a market capitalization of $37.97 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.57, a P/E/G ratio of 2.86 and a beta of 0.34. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.92, a quick ratio of 0.52 and a current ratio of 0.97. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $191.74 and its 200-day simple moving average is $190.62.

Hershey (NYSE:HSY) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 8th. The company reported $2.02 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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 for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.72 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $2.02 EPS. The company’s revenue was up .2% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts anticipate that The Hershey Company will post 9.6 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Hershey Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, February 20th were issued a $1.37 dividend. This is a boost from Hershey’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.19. This represents a $5.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.94%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 16th. Hershey’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 60.55%.

Insider Activity

In other news, CFO Steven E. Voskuil sold 1,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $197.90, for a total value of $296,850.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 40,228 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,961,121.20. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. In related news, CFO Steven E. Voskuil sold 1,500 shares of Hershey stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $197.90, for a total value of $296,850.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 40,228 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,961,121.20. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CAO Jennifer Mccalman sold 453 shares of Hershey stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $198.54, for a total transaction of $89,938.62. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 1,862 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $369,681.48. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 3,453 shares of company stock worth $665,534. Corporate insiders own 0.34% of the company’s stock.

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.