Hershey’s (HSY) Neutral Rating Reaffirmed at Piper Sandler

Piper Sandler reiterated their neutral rating on shares of Hershey (NYSE:HSY) in a research note published on Friday, Benzinga reports. Piper Sandler currently has a $179.00 price target on the stock.

Several other equities research analysts have also recently issued reports on HSY. Argus cut their target price on Hershey from $240.00 to $225.00 and set a buy rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, May 30th. BNP Paribas downgraded Hershey from an outperform rating to a neutral rating and set a $208.00 price objective for the company. in a research report on Tuesday, March 26th. Edward Jones reaffirmed a hold rating on shares of Hershey in a research report on Friday, April 19th. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated a sector perform rating and set a $213.00 price target on shares of Hershey in a research report on Friday, March 15th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price objective on shares of Hershey from $205.00 to $195.00 and set an equal weight rating on the stock in a report on Friday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have given a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of Hold and a consensus target price of $209.67.

Hershey Price Performance

NYSE:HSY opened at $182.14 on Friday. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $194.13 and a 200 day moving average price of $192.25. The stock has a market cap of $36.83 billion, a PE ratio of 18.05, a P/E/G ratio of 4.09 and a beta of 0.37. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.92, a quick ratio of 0.64 and a current ratio of 0.97. Hershey has a one year low of $178.82 and a one year high of $261.58.

Hershey (NYSE:HSY) last issued its earnings results on Friday, May 3rd. The company reported $3.07 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.74 by $0.33. Hershey had a net margin of 18.13% and a return on equity of 50.15%. The company had revenue of $3.25 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.11 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $2.96 earnings per share. Hershey’s quarterly revenue was up 8.9% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts expect that Hershey will post 9.6 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Hershey Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 14th. Investors of record on Friday, May 17th were paid a dividend of $1.37 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, May 16th. This represents a $5.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.01%. Hershey’s payout ratio is 54.31%.

Insider Activity at Hershey

In other Hershey news, CFO Steven E. Voskuil sold 1,500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $197.90, for a total value of $296,850.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 40,228 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,961,121.20. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Insiders have sold a total of 4,500 shares of company stock valued at $882,405 over the last 90 days. 0.34% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Wealth Alliance boosted its holdings in Hershey by 9.5% in the fourth quarter. Wealth Alliance now owns 1,137 shares of the company’s stock valued at $212,000 after purchasing an additional 99 shares in the last quarter. AJOVista LLC acquired a new position in shares of Hershey in the 4th quarter valued at $153,000. Pittenger & Anderson Inc. grew its position in shares of Hershey by 1,263.3% in the 4th quarter. Pittenger & Anderson Inc. now owns 15,105 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,816,000 after buying an additional 13,997 shares during the last quarter. Ironwood Investment Counsel LLC acquired a new stake in Hershey during the 4th quarter worth $2,332,000. Finally, Reliant Investment Management LLC purchased a new stake in Hershey in the fourth quarter valued at $4,173,000. 57.96% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About Hershey

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.