Lee Danner & Bass Inc. Takes Position in The Hershey Company (NYSE:HSY)

Lee Danner & Bass Inc. bought a new stake in shares of The Hershey Company (NYSE:HSY) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm bought 202 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $34,000.

Other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Hershey by 66.7% during the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 972,836 shares of the company’s stock valued at $186,571,000 after acquiring an additional 389,404 shares during the period. Woodstock Corp grew its position in shares of Hershey by 34.8% during the 4th quarter. Woodstock Corp now owns 6,896 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,168,000 after acquiring an additional 1,780 shares during the period. Elevate Capital Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Hershey during the 4th quarter valued at about $1,939,000. Ethos Financial Group LLC lifted its stake in Hershey by 59.8% in the 4th quarter. Ethos Financial Group LLC now owns 3,962 shares of the company’s stock valued at $671,000 after buying an additional 1,483 shares in the last quarter. Finally, HighTower Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Hershey by 61.9% in the 3rd quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC now owns 120,159 shares of the company’s stock valued at $23,052,000 after buying an additional 45,936 shares in the last quarter. 57.96% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on HSY. Barclays decreased their price target on shares of Hershey from $170.00 to $160.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, February 10th. Stifel Nicolaus decreased their price target on shares of Hershey from $170.00 to $160.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, February 7th. Jefferies Financial Group decreased their price target on shares of Hershey from $150.00 to $134.00 and set an “underperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, January 21st. UBS Group decreased their target price on shares of Hershey from $189.00 to $163.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, January 16th. Finally, Mizuho decreased their target price on shares of Hershey from $170.00 to $140.00 in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and sixteen have assigned a hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $163.75.

Hershey Stock Up 1.8 %

Hershey stock opened at $167.38 on Monday. The Hershey Company has a fifty-two week low of $140.13 and a fifty-two week high of $211.92. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.68, a quick ratio of 0.64 and a current ratio of 0.96. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $162.61 and a 200 day moving average price of $174.80. The company has a market capitalization of $33.88 billion, a PE ratio of 15.36, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.90 and a beta of 0.32.

Hershey (NYSE:HSY) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, February 6th. The company reported $2.69 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.40 by $0.29. Hershey had a net margin of 19.83% and a return on equity of 44.77%. Research analysts expect that The Hershey Company will post 6.12 earnings per share for the current year.

Hershey Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 14th. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 17th were paid a $1.37 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 14th. This represents a $5.48 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.27%. Hershey’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 50.28%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Hershey news, CAO Jennifer Mccalman sold 278 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $148.00, for a total value of $41,144.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 2,682 shares in the company, valued at $396,936. The trade was a 9.39 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Insiders own 0.34% of the company’s stock.

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.