Hershey Co (HSY) Receives Consensus Recommendation of “Hold” from Brokerages

Hershey Co (NYSE:HSY) has been assigned an average rating of “Hold” from the fifteen ratings firms that are currently covering the firm, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have issued a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the company. The average 1-year price target among analysts that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $100.82.

HSY has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Credit Suisse Group upgraded Hershey from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $104.00 price objective for the company in a report on Tuesday, October 30th. ValuEngine upgraded Hershey from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 12th. Zacks Investment Research downgraded Hershey from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, January 21st. Bank of America upgraded Hershey from an “underperform” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $92.00 to $120.00 in a report on Wednesday, December 19th. Finally, Susquehanna Bancshares lifted their price objective on Hershey from $109.00 to $114.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 23rd.

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In other Hershey news, CEO Michele Buck sold 1,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, December 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $106.68, for a total value of $160,020.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 167,894 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $17,910,931.92. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Insiders sold 4,500 shares of company stock worth $484,095 over the last three months. Insiders own 0.87% of the company’s stock.

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Physicians Financial Services Inc. lifted its position in shares of Hershey by 0.9% during the 4th quarter. Physicians Financial Services Inc. now owns 10,532 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,129,000 after buying an additional 99 shares in the last quarter. Cypress Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Hershey by 0.9% during the 4th quarter. Cypress Capital Management LLC now owns 11,230 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,204,000 after buying an additional 100 shares in the last quarter. D.A. Davidson & CO. lifted its position in shares of Hershey by 0.7% during the 4th quarter. D.A. Davidson & CO. now owns 13,793 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,478,000 after buying an additional 101 shares in the last quarter. SPC Financial Inc. lifted its position in shares of Hershey by 3.5% during the 4th quarter. SPC Financial Inc. now owns 3,002 shares of the company’s stock valued at $322,000 after buying an additional 102 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Haverford Trust Co. lifted its position in shares of Hershey by 5.3% during the 4th quarter. Haverford Trust Co. now owns 2,099 shares of the company’s stock valued at $225,000 after buying an additional 105 shares in the last quarter. 51.50% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Shares of NYSE:HSY traded up $1.15 on Wednesday, hitting $109.35. 2,175,261 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,283,535. Hershey has a 52 week low of $89.10 and a 52 week high of $110.30. The company has a market capitalization of $22.93 billion, a PE ratio of 20.40, a PEG ratio of 2.27 and a beta of 0.16. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.31, a current ratio of 0.93 and a quick ratio of 0.60.

Hershey (NYSE:HSY) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 31st. The company reported $1.26 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.27 by ($0.01). Hershey had a return on equity of 95.97% and a net margin of 15.11%. The business had revenue of $1.99 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.01 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $1.03 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Hershey will post 5.66 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 15th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 22nd will be given a $0.722 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, February 21st. This represents a $2.89 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.64%. Hershey’s payout ratio is 53.92%.

Hershey Company Profile

The Hershey Company, together with its subsidiaries, manufactures and sells confectionery products. The company operates through two segments, North America; and International and Other. It offers chocolate and non-chocolate confectionery products; gum and mint refreshment products comprising mints, chewing gums, and bubble gums; pantry items, such as baking ingredients, toppings, beverages, and sundae syrups; and snack items, including spreads, meat snacks, bars and snack bites, mixes, popcorn and protein bars, and cookies.

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