Wells Fargo & Company MN Raises Holdings in The Hershey Company (NYSE:HSY)

Wells Fargo & Company MN grew its position in shares of The Hershey Company (NYSE:HSY) by 11.6% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 296,168 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 30,789 shares during the quarter. Wells Fargo & Company MN owned approximately 0.14% of Hershey worth $55,218,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in HSY. Costello Asset Management INC acquired a new stake in shares of Hershey during the third quarter worth about $25,000. BKM Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Hershey during the fourth quarter worth about $26,000. First Financial Corp IN acquired a new stake in shares of Hershey during the fourth quarter worth about $29,000. Highlander Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Hershey by 125.3% during the fourth quarter. Highlander Capital Management LLC now owns 169 shares of the company’s stock worth $32,000 after buying an additional 94 shares during the period. Finally, Rakuten Securities Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Hershey during the fourth quarter worth about $32,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 57.96% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on HSY. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on shares of Hershey from $200.00 to $205.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, May 6th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased 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. Morgan Stanley downgraded shares of Hershey from an “equal weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and reduced their price objective for the company from $191.00 to $183.00 in a research report on Monday, February 12th. Edward Jones restated a “hold” rating on shares of Hershey in a research report on Friday, April 19th. Finally, Barclays raised their price objective on shares of Hershey from $200.00 to $210.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, February 12th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have issued a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Hershey currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $213.06.

Hershey Price Performance

HSY stock opened at $197.00 on Friday. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $195.69 and a 200-day moving average of $192.32. The Hershey Company has a 12-month low of $178.82 and a 12-month high of $263.38. The company has a current ratio of 0.97, a quick ratio of 0.64 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.92. The company has a market cap of $39.84 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.52, a PEG ratio of 4.41 and a beta of 0.33.

Hershey (NYSE:HSY) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Friday, May 3rd. The company reported $3.07 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.74 by $0.33. Hershey had a net margin of 18.13% and a return on equity of 50.15%. The business had revenue of $3.25 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.11 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $2.96 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 8.9% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts expect that The Hershey Company will post 9.6 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Hershey Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 14th. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 17th will be paid a dividend of $1.37 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 16th. This represents a $5.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.78%. Hershey’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 54.31%.

Insider Transactions at Hershey

In other news, CFO Steven E. Voskuil sold 1,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $185.83, for a total transaction of $278,745.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 38,728 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,196,824.24. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Insiders sold a total of 4,500 shares of company stock valued at $882,405 in the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 0.34% of the company’s stock.

About Hershey

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.