Steven Voskuil Sells 1,500 Shares of Hershey (NYSE:HSY) Stock

Hershey Company (The) (NYSE:HSY) CFO Steven Voskuil sold 1,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, December 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $188.51, for a total value of $282,765.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 53,819 shares in the company, valued at $10,145,419.69. The trade was a 2.71% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website.

Hershey Price Performance

NYSE:HSY opened at $189.40 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $38.41 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.31 and a beta of 0.19. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.02, a current ratio of 1.36 and a quick ratio of 0.83. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $181.32 and a 200-day simple moving average of $180.33. Hershey Company has a 1 year low of $140.13 and a 1 year high of $199.00.

Hershey (NYSE:HSY) last released its earnings results on Thursday, October 30th. The company reported $1.30 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.06 by $0.24. The firm had revenue of $3.18 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.11 billion. Hershey had a return on equity of 32.08% and a net margin of 11.84%.The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $2.34 EPS. Hershey has set its FY 2025 guidance at 5.900-6.000 EPS. Equities analysts forecast that Hershey Company will post 6.12 EPS for the current year.

Hershey Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, November 17th were paid a $1.37 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, November 17th. This represents a $5.48 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.9%. Hershey’s dividend payout ratio is currently 81.91%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Brooklyn Investment Group increased its stake in shares of Hershey by 10.3% during the first quarter. Brooklyn Investment Group now owns 890 shares of the company’s stock valued at $152,000 after buying an additional 83 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp grew its holdings in Hershey by 0.8% during the 1st quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 1,590,903 shares of the company’s stock worth $272,092,000 after acquiring an additional 11,946 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its position in Hershey by 794.6% during the 1st quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 11,371 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,945,000 after purchasing an additional 10,100 shares during the period. BI Asset Management Fondsmaeglerselskab A S raised its holdings in shares of Hershey by 73.4% in the 1st quarter. BI Asset Management Fondsmaeglerselskab A S now owns 10,741 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,837,000 after purchasing an additional 4,545 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria S.A. lifted its position in shares of Hershey by 116.1% in the 1st quarter. Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria S.A. now owns 8,424 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,438,000 after purchasing an additional 4,525 shares during the period. 57.96% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts recently commented on HSY shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on shares of Hershey from $187.00 to $189.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, October 20th. Argus raised Hershey to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 26th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Hershey in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. TD Cowen dropped their price objective on Hershey from $204.00 to $200.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Friday, October 31st. Finally, DA Davidson reduced their target price on Hershey from $188.00 to $185.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, November 10th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, seventeen have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $184.95.

About Hershey

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.