Hershey’s (HSY) Sector Perform Rating Reaffirmed at Royal Bank of Canada

Royal Bank of Canada restated their sector perform rating on shares of Hershey (NYSE:HSY) in a report released on Friday, Benzinga reports. Royal Bank of Canada currently has a $213.00 price target on the stock.

Several other analysts also recently weighed in on HSY. Barclays lifted their price objective on shares of Hershey from $200.00 to $210.00 and gave the company an equal weight rating in a research report on Monday, February 12th. Morgan Stanley downgraded shares of Hershey from an equal weight rating to an underweight rating and cut their price objective for the company from $191.00 to $183.00 in a research report on Monday, February 12th. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price objective on shares of Hershey from $195.00 to $205.00 and gave the company a hold rating in a research report on Thursday, January 25th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on shares of Hershey from $185.00 to $193.00 and gave the company a neutral rating in a research report on Friday, February 9th. Finally, Bank of America downgraded shares of Hershey from a buy rating to a neutral rating and dropped their price target for the stock from $250.00 to $200.00 in a research report on Friday, December 15th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have assigned a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of Hold and a consensus price target of $228.33.

Hershey Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE HSY traded up $3.46 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $197.00. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 2,687,956 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,093,861. Hershey has a 1-year low of $178.82 and a 1-year high of $276.88. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $192.52 and its 200-day moving average price is $193.41. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.92, a quick ratio of 0.52 and a current ratio of 0.97. The firm has a market cap of $40.18 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.77, a P/E/G ratio of 2.99 and a beta of 0.34.

Hershey (NYSE:HSY) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 8th. The company reported $2.02 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.95 by $0.07. Hershey had a net margin of 16.67% and a return on equity of 51.79%. The business had revenue of $2.66 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.72 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $2.02 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up .2% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Hershey will post 9.59 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Hershey Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 20th were given a $1.37 dividend. This represents a $5.48 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.78%. This is an increase from Hershey’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.19. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 16th. Hershey’s payout ratio is currently 60.55%.

Insider Transactions at Hershey

In other news, CAO Jennifer Mccalman sold 453 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $198.54, for a total value of $89,938.62. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 1,862 shares in the company, valued at $369,681.48. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. In other news, insider Charles R. Raup sold 2,065 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, January 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $191.85, for a total value of $396,170.25. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 14,770 shares in the company, valued at $2,833,624.50. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, CAO Jennifer Mccalman sold 453 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $198.54, for a total transaction of $89,938.62. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 1,862 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $369,681.48. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 5,518 shares of company stock worth $1,042,669. 0.34% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Hershey

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in Hershey by 1.8% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 15,182,809 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,830,683,000 after purchasing an additional 271,636 shares during the last quarter. BlackRock Inc. raised its stake in Hershey by 3.2% during the 2nd quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 15,160,022 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,785,458,000 after purchasing an additional 465,423 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp increased its holdings in Hershey by 1.6% in the 2nd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 7,144,337 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,783,941,000 after buying an additional 111,357 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in Hershey by 9.1% in the 1st quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 3,489,322 shares of the company’s stock valued at $886,746,000 after buying an additional 290,920 shares during the period. Finally, Morgan Stanley increased its holdings in Hershey by 57.2% in the 4th quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 2,648,666 shares of the company’s stock valued at $613,352,000 after buying an additional 964,019 shares during the period. 56.47% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Hershey Company Profile

The Hershey Company, together with its subsidiaries, engages in the manufacture and sale of confectionery products and pantry items in the United States and internationally. The company operates through three segments: North America Confectionery, North America Salty Snacks, and International. It offers chocolate and non-chocolate confectionery products; gum and mint refreshment products, including mints, chewing gums, and bubble gums; protein bars; pantry items, such as baking ingredients, toppings, beverages, and sundae syrups; and snack items comprising spreads, bars, snack bites, mixes, popcorn, and pretzels.