BI Asset Management Fondsmaeglerselskab A S Has $19.41 Million Stock Position in Hershey Company (The) $HSY

BI Asset Management Fondsmaeglerselskab A S lifted its holdings in shares of Hershey Company (The) (NYSE:HSY) by 88.0% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 106,649 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 49,927 shares during the quarter. BI Asset Management Fondsmaeglerselskab A S’s holdings in Hershey were worth $19,408,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of HSY. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. increased its stake in shares of Hershey by 6.5% during the 1st quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 15,310 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,618,000 after purchasing an additional 937 shares during the last quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC grew its stake in Hershey by 20.2% in the 2nd quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 697 shares of the company’s stock valued at $116,000 after buying an additional 117 shares during the last quarter. Gamco Investors INC. ET AL acquired a new position in Hershey in the 2nd quarter valued at $267,000. Bank of Nova Scotia grew its stake in Hershey by 4.5% in the 2nd quarter. Bank of Nova Scotia now owns 17,927 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,975,000 after buying an additional 769 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Daiwa Securities Group Inc. grew its stake in Hershey by 5.4% in the 2nd quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 22,247 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,692,000 after buying an additional 1,149 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 57.96% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Hershey

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

HSY has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. The Goldman Sachs Group set a $240.00 target price on shares of Hershey in a research note on Friday, May 1st. Zacks Research lowered shares of Hershey from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 7th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft decreased their price target on shares of Hershey from $212.00 to $200.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, March 30th. DA Davidson decreased their price target on shares of Hershey from $230.00 to $208.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, May 4th. Finally, Barclays decreased their price target on shares of Hershey from $225.00 to $220.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, May 4th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and sixteen have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $218.06.

Hershey Price Performance

NYSE:HSY opened at $184.42 on Friday. The company has a 50-day moving average of $194.51 and a 200-day moving average of $198.75. The company has a market capitalization of $37.41 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.34, a PEG ratio of 1.11 and a beta of 0.09. Hershey Company has a 52 week low of $160.07 and a 52 week high of $239.48. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.99, a quick ratio of 0.77 and a current ratio of 1.24.

Hershey (NYSE:HSY) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 30th. The company reported $2.35 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.04 by $0.31. Hershey had a net margin of 9.12% and a return on equity of 28.98%. The company had revenue of $3.10 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.03 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $2.09 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 10.7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Hershey Company will post 8.45 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Hershey Announces Dividend

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 issued a dividend of $1.452 per share. This represents a $5.81 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.1%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 15th. Hershey’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 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.