Intellectus Partners LLC Sells 3,333 Shares of Hershey Company (The) $HSY

Intellectus Partners LLC lowered its stake in Hershey Company (The) (NYSE:HSY) by 56.9% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 2,529 shares of the company’s stock after selling 3,333 shares during the quarter. Intellectus Partners LLC’s holdings in Hershey were worth $460,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in Hershey by 1.0% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 19,067,235 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,469,855,000 after purchasing an additional 191,671 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp raised its holdings in shares of Hershey by 1.8% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 7,253,041 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,356,681,000 after acquiring an additional 128,982 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Hershey by 2.2% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 4,831,101 shares of the company’s stock valued at $876,434,000 after acquiring an additional 104,024 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp raised its holdings in shares of Hershey by 1.9% during the third quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 1,614,258 shares of the company’s stock valued at $301,947,000 after acquiring an additional 29,731 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Capital Research Global Investors raised its holdings in shares of Hershey by 6.7% during the third quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 1,605,628 shares of the company’s stock valued at $300,333,000 after acquiring an additional 101,305 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 57.96% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts recently commented on the company. Stephens upped their target price on Hershey from $200.00 to $260.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, February 12th. Piper Sandler restated an “overweight” rating and set a $249.00 target price on shares of Hershey in a report on Wednesday, February 25th. Zacks Research downgraded Hershey from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 7th. The Goldman Sachs Group set a $240.00 target price on Hershey in a report on Friday, May 1st. Finally, Mizuho decreased their target price on Hershey from $195.00 to $185.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, May 20th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and sixteen have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Hershey currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $218.06.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CFO Steven E. Voskuil sold 1,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, April 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $194.10, for a total value of $291,150.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 57,695 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $11,198,599.50. This represents a 2.53% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. 0.08% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Hershey Price Performance

Shares of HSY stock opened at $182.89 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $37.10 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.06, a PEG ratio of 1.10 and a beta of 0.09. The business’s fifty day moving average is $195.15 and its 200 day moving average is $198.85. Hershey Company has a twelve month low of $160.07 and a twelve month high of $239.48. The company has a quick ratio of 0.77, a current ratio of 1.24 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.99.

Hershey (NYSE:HSY) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 30th. The company reported $2.35 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.04 by $0.31. The company had revenue of $3.10 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.03 billion. Hershey had a return on equity of 28.98% and a net margin of 9.12%.The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 10.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $2.09 earnings per share. Research analysts expect that Hershey Company will post 8.45 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Hershey Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 15th. Investors of record on Friday, May 15th will be paid a $1.452 dividend. This represents a $5.81 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.2%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 15th. Hershey’s dividend payout ratio is presently 108.19%.

Hershey 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.