Norden Group LLC Invests $5.61 Million in The Hershey Company (NYSE:HSY)

Norden Group LLC purchased a new stake in shares of The Hershey Company (NYSE:HSY) during the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor purchased 28,845 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,610,000.

Other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Hershey during the fourth quarter worth $349,448,000. International Assets Investment Management LLC lifted its holdings in Hershey by 18,495.8% in the fourth quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 295,673 shares of the company’s stock worth $55,125,000 after acquiring an additional 294,083 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in Hershey by 1.8% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 15,182,809 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,830,683,000 after acquiring an additional 271,636 shares during the period. Confluence Investment Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Hershey during the first quarter valued at approximately $35,090,000. Finally, Jennison Associates LLC raised its position in shares of Hershey by 483.6% during the 4th quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 139,881 shares of the company’s stock worth $26,079,000 after purchasing an additional 115,912 shares during the period. 57.96% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on HSY shares. Argus reduced their price objective on Hershey from $240.00 to $225.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, May 30th. BNP Paribas downgraded shares of Hershey from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $208.00 price target for the company. in a report on Tuesday, March 26th. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed a “sector perform” rating and issued a $213.00 price objective on shares of Hershey in a report on Friday, March 15th. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their target price on shares of Hershey from $205.00 to $195.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, June 21st. Finally, Piper Sandler restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $179.00 price target on shares of Hershey in a research note on Friday, June 21st. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have issued a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $209.67.

Hershey Stock Performance

HSY opened at $183.75 on Friday. The Hershey Company has a 1-year low of $178.82 and a 1-year high of $251.71. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.92, a current ratio of 0.97 and a quick ratio of 0.64. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $194.02 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $192.16. The company has a market capitalization of $37.16 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.21, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.11 and a beta of 0.36.

Hershey (NYSE:HSY) last announced its earnings results on Friday, May 3rd. The company reported $3.07 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.74 by $0.33. Hershey had a return on equity of 50.15% and a net margin of 18.13%. The business had revenue of $3.25 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.11 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $2.96 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 8.9% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts predict that The Hershey Company will post 9.59 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Hershey Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 14th. Investors of record on Friday, May 17th were issued a dividend of $1.37 per share. This represents a $5.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.98%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, May 16th. Hershey’s payout ratio is 54.31%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CFO Steven E. Voskuil sold 1,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $185.83, for a total transaction of $278,745.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 38,728 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,196,824.24. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 4,500 shares of company stock worth $859,950. Corporate insiders own 0.29% of the company’s stock.

Hershey 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.