The most recent filing that the company has made with the SEC indicates that during the third quarter, Western Financial Corporation increased its holdings in The Hershey Company (NYSE: HSY) by 37.3%. Following the completion of an additional 869 transactions during the period under review, the total number of shares in the company held by the fund has grown to 3,199. At the end of the most recent reporting period, Western Financial Corporation had a total investment in Hershey worth $705,000.
Over the last few months, numerous other institutional investors and hedge funds have either increased or decreased the amount of HSY shares they currently hold in their portfolios. Beaird Harris Wealth Management LLC acquired a new Hershey stake during the third quarter of the fiscal year. The value of this new Hershey’s stake was approximately $26,000. During the first three months of 2018, Zions Bancorporation N.A. saw a 121.3% increase in the number of shares of Hershey Company that it held in its portfolio. After making an additional investment of 74 shares during the most recent quarter, Zions Bancorporation N.A. now holds a total of 135 shares in the company, which have a market value of $29,000. During the second quarter, Ronald Blue Trust Inc. increased its holdings in Hershey by completing a transaction with a total value of approximately $33,000 and increasing its holdings in the company. The acquisition of a new position in Hershey cost Orion Capital Management LLC approximately 54,000 dollars during the second quarter of the fiscal year. During the third quarter, American National Bank increased the percentage of Hershey’s stock that it owns by 359.3 percent to compete with other financial institutions’ efforts. As a result of American National Bank’s purchase of an additional 194 shares of the company during the period above, the bank now has a total of 248 shares; the value of these shares is $55,000. Institutional investors and investors participating in hedge funds hold 54.17% of the company’s stock.
Several research analysts have recently written and published reports on the HSY stock.
Hershey was upgraded by Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating, and their price objective on the stock was raised from $236.00 to $246.00 in a research report that was released on Tuesday, December 6. According to a report on Hershey that StockNews.com published on January 10, the recommendation for the company’s stock was to “buy” the stock of the company. In a report made available to the public on November 18, Erste Group Bank announced that it was changing its recommendation for Hershey from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating. In a research report released on November 7, Mizuho increased its price objective for Hershey’s stock by $22.00 and rated the company’s stock as “neutral.” The report could be accessed via the internet. Hershey was given an “overweight” rating by Morgan Stanley, up from an “equal weight” rating given to the company in a research report published on December 20 by Morgan Stanley. In addition, the brokerage firm increased its price target for the stock from $224.00 to $231.00, moving it up from the previous price of $224.00. The stock currently has a total of twenty-one different ratings, nine of which are bought ratings, nine of which are held ratings, and one of which is a sell rating. Bloomberg has reported that the overall market sentiment regarding Hershey’s stock is “hold” and that the company’s stock’s average price target is $232.00.
On Friday, HSY started trading for $214.52, which was the opening price for the market. The price of the stock’s moving average over the past 50 days comes in at $229.92, and the price of the stock’s moving average over the past 200 days comes in at $227.12. Over the previous year, the share price of The Hershey Company ranged from a low of $191.00 to a high of $242.63 during the same period. The debt-to-equity ratio presently stands at 1.08, the quick ratio stands at 0.45, and the current ratio stands at 0.79. The price-to-earnings ratio for the company is 28.01; the price-to-growth ratio for the company is 3.12; and the beta value for the company is 0.35. The company has a market capitalization of $43.99 billion at present.
Hershey (NYSE: HSY) released its most recent earnings report to the general public on November 4. The report was required by Hershey to be made public. The earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter came in at $2.17, which is $0.10 more than the average expectation that had been floating around $2.07 for the quarter. Hershey achieved a return on equity of 58.19%, while the company’s net margin came in at 15.69%. The actual revenue the company brought in for the quarter was $2.73 billion, which is higher than the forecasted revenue of $2.62 billion expected for the company throughout the quarter. Compared to the previous year’s period, the corporation’s revenue per share came in at $2.10 in the most recent comparable quarter.
Hershey’s revenue rose by 15.6% compared to the previous fiscal year. Sell-side analysts have projected that The Hershey Company will generate earnings of $8.29 per share in 2018. This information comes from the company’s financial statements.
In addition, the business recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid out on December 15. On Friday, November 18, dividends for $1.036 per share were distributed to shareholders on record at the company. These payments were made to shareholders out of dividends. Thursday, November 17, was the last day dividends were paid out before they were discontinued. This translates to a yield of 1.93% and a dividend payment of $4.14 yearly for every shareholder. Hershey’s dividend payout ratio (also called DPR) currently stands at 54.05 percent.
According to reports from other news outlets, on December 27, business insider Charles R. Raup sold 1,512 shares of company stock. This transaction took place. A total of 357,406.56 dollars’ worth of the stock was sold for $236.38 per share for a total transaction volume of 357,406.56 dollars. As a result of the successful transaction completion, the corporate insider is now the owner of 13,713 company shares with a combined value of $3,241,478.94. Should you follow this link, you will be taken to the SEC filing in which the transaction was discussed in greater detail. In other news about this topic, President and Chief Executive Officer Michele Buck disposed of 14,250 shares of the company’s stock on November 14. As a result of the sale of the stock at an average price of $220.39 per share, the total value of the transaction was $3,140,557.50. Because of the transaction, the CEO now owns 150,555 company shares, with an approximate value of 33,180,816.45 dollars. Should you follow this link, you will be taken to the SEC filing in which the transaction was discussed in greater detail. In addition, on December 27, an executive named Charles R. Raup sold 1,512 shares of the company’s stock. It was determined that the shares could be sold for an average price of $236.38 each, which resulted in a total sale price of $357,406.56 in dollars. Following the purchase, the corporate insider has a total of 13,713 shares of the company, which have a combined value of approximately $3,241,478.94. Disclosures that are related to the sale might be found in this section of the website. During the most recent period of the company’s fiscal year, business insiders sold 42,746 shares of company stock, resulting in a total profit of $9,698,507. Together, the company’s management and employees hold 0.34% of the total shares issued by the company.
