WINTON GROUP Ltd Acquires New Shares in Hershey Company (The) $HSY

WINTON GROUP Ltd acquired a new position in Hershey Company (The) (NYSE:HSY) in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 27,971 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,232,000.

A number of other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of HSY. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Hershey by 1.1% in the second quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 18,840,577 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,126,594,000 after acquiring an additional 210,131 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its holdings in Hershey by 2.5% in the second quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 5,116,739 shares of the company’s stock worth $849,123,000 after purchasing an additional 125,100 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in Hershey by 2.8% in the 2nd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 4,567,373 shares of the company’s stock worth $755,305,000 after purchasing an additional 126,519 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its stake in Hershey by 4.6% during the 2nd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 3,276,326 shares of the company’s stock valued at $543,712,000 after buying an additional 144,640 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bank of America Corp DE lifted its holdings in shares of Hershey by 2.1% during the 2nd quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 1,420,491 shares of the company’s stock valued at $235,731,000 after buying an additional 29,462 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 57.96% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

HSY has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Evercore reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of Hershey in a report on Friday, February 6th. Jefferies Financial Group upped their price target on shares of Hershey from $185.00 to $207.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, February 2nd. DA Davidson set a $243.00 price objective on shares of Hershey in a report on Friday, February 6th. Zacks Research raised shares of Hershey from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 29th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $267.00 price target on shares of Hershey in a research note on Friday, February 6th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have assigned a Buy rating and sixteen have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $222.21.

Hershey Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:HSY opened at $222.86 on Tuesday. The company has a market capitalization of $45.17 billion, a P/E ratio of 51.35, a P/E/G ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 0.14. Hershey Company has a 1-year low of $150.04 and a 1-year high of $239.48. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $207.91 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $192.42. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.01, a current ratio of 1.19 and a quick ratio of 0.72.

Hershey (NYSE:HSY) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 5th. The company reported $1.71 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.40 by $0.31. The firm had revenue of $3.09 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.97 billion. Hershey had a net margin of 7.55% and a return on equity of 27.90%. The company’s revenue was up 7.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm earned $2.69 EPS. Hershey has set its FY 2026 guidance at 8.200-8.520 EPS. Research analysts expect that Hershey Company will post 6.12 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Hershey Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 16th. Investors of record on Tuesday, February 17th will be paid a dividend of $1.452 per share. This is a boost from Hershey’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.37. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, February 17th. This represents a $5.81 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.6%. Hershey’s dividend payout ratio is 133.87%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Hershey news, CFO Steven E. Voskuil sold 1,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $219.66, for a total value of $329,490.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 50,819 shares in the company, valued at $11,162,901.54. This represents a 2.87% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, SVP Jason Reiman sold 2,000 shares of Hershey stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $226.07, for a total transaction of $452,140.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president owned 41,036 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,277,008.52. The trade was a 4.65% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last three months, insiders have sold 10,000 shares of company stock valued at $2,153,645. Corporate insiders own 0.28% of the company’s stock.

Hershey Company Profile

The Hershey Company (NYSE: HSY) is a leading North American chocolatier and snack manufacturer headquartered in Hershey, Pennsylvania. The company develops, produces and markets a wide range of confectionery and snack products for retail, foodservice and international customers. Hershey’s business spans manufacturing, branded product marketing, packaging and distribution across grocery, convenience, mass merchant and e-commerce channels.

Hershey’s product portfolio centers on chocolate and sugar confectionery, including core brands such as Hershey’s, Reese’s, Hershey’s Kisses and Twizzlers, alongside non-chocolate snacks and confectionery brands.