Piper Sandler Cuts Hershey (NYSE:HSY) Price Target to $179.00

Hershey (NYSE:HSY) had its price target decreased by Piper Sandler from $200.00 to $179.00 in a research report report published on Monday, Benzinga reports. Piper Sandler currently has a neutral rating on the stock.

A number of other brokerages have also recently weighed in on HSY. Citigroup dropped their price target on Hershey from $213.00 to $199.00 and set a neutral rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 11th. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price objective on Hershey from $195.00 to $205.00 and gave the stock a hold rating in a research report on Thursday, January 25th. Morgan Stanley cut Hershey from an equal weight rating to an underweight rating and dropped their price objective for the stock from $191.00 to $183.00 in a research report on Monday, February 12th. BNP Paribas cut Hershey from an outperform rating to a neutral rating and set a $208.00 price objective for the company. in a research report on Tuesday, March 26th. Finally, Barclays lifted their price objective on Hershey from $200.00 to $210.00 and gave the stock an equal weight rating in a research report on Monday, February 12th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, fifteen have issued a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Hershey presently has a consensus rating of Hold and a consensus price target of $223.33.

Hershey Trading Up 1.3 %

Shares of HSY stock opened at $184.86 on Monday. Hershey has a fifty-two week low of $178.82 and a fifty-two week high of $276.88. The stock has a market cap of $37.70 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.43, a P/E/G ratio of 2.81 and a beta of 0.34. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $192.52 and a 200-day simple moving average of $191.07. The company has a quick ratio of 0.52, a current ratio of 0.97 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.92.

Hershey (NYSE:HSY) last announced 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 return on equity of 51.79% and a net margin of 16.67%. The business had revenue of $2.66 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.72 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $2.02 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up .2% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts forecast that Hershey will post 9.6 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Hershey Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 20th were issued a dividend of $1.37 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 16th. This is an increase 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 currently 60.55%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

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 stock was sold at an average price of $188.97, for a total transaction of $283,455.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 29,816 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,634,329.52. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through 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 stock was 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 Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through 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 shares were sold at an average price of $188.97, for a total value 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 have sold 3,453 shares of company stock worth $670,244 in the last three months. 0.34% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Hershey

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Blair William & Co. IL grew its stake in Hershey by 3.1% during the 1st quarter. Blair William & Co. IL now owns 30,767 shares of the company’s stock worth $6,665,000 after buying an additional 916 shares during the last quarter. Dakota Wealth Management bought a new position in Hershey during the 1st quarter worth $238,000. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC grew its stake in Hershey by 28.8% during the 1st quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC now owns 1,566 shares of the company’s stock worth $339,000 after buying an additional 350 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in Hershey by 1.6% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 14,057,990 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,045,383,000 after buying an additional 216,715 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Candriam Luxembourg S.C.A. grew its stake in Hershey by 10.8% during the 1st quarter. Candriam Luxembourg S.C.A. now owns 32,183 shares of the company’s stock worth $6,972,000 after buying an additional 3,129 shares during the last quarter. 57.96% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.