Lake Street Advisors Group LLC Has $381,000 Holdings in The Hershey Company (NYSE:HSY)

Lake Street Advisors Group LLC lowered its stake in The Hershey Company (NYSE:HSY) by 8.0% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,989 shares of the company’s stock after selling 174 shares during the quarter. Lake Street Advisors Group LLC’s holdings in Hershey were worth $381,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of HSY. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Hershey by 14.2% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 17,341,721 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,372,965,000 after purchasing an additional 2,158,912 shares in the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC increased its stake in Hershey by 30,461.7% during the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 573,643 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,100,130,000 after purchasing an additional 571,766 shares in the last quarter. Confluence Investment Management LLC raised its holdings in Hershey by 297.9% during the second quarter. Confluence Investment Management LLC now owns 717,831 shares of the company’s stock worth $131,959,000 after buying an additional 537,419 shares during the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA bought a new position in shares of Hershey in the second quarter valued at $82,123,000. Finally, Bryn Mawr Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Hershey by 3,404.3% during the first quarter. Bryn Mawr Capital Management LLC now owns 256,447 shares of the company’s stock valued at $49,879,000 after buying an additional 249,129 shares during the last quarter. 57.96% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Hershey Trading Down 0.5 %

Shares of HSY stock opened at $181.26 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $36.67 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.14, a PEG ratio of 4.22 and a beta of 0.37. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $192.50 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $192.72. The Hershey Company has a 1 year low of $178.82 and a 1 year high of $211.92. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.87, a current ratio of 0.86 and a quick ratio of 0.48.

Hershey (NYSE:HSY) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 1st. The company reported $1.27 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.44 by ($0.17). The company had revenue of $2.07 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.30 billion. Hershey had a net margin of 16.76% and a return on equity of 45.36%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 16.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $2.01 earnings per share. As a group, analysts anticipate that The Hershey Company will post 9.45 earnings per share for the current year.

Hershey Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 16th. Investors of record on Friday, August 16th were issued a dividend of $1.37 per share. This represents a $5.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.02%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, August 16th. Hershey’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 60.89%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages recently weighed in on HSY. UBS Group cut shares of Hershey from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and dropped their price target for the company from $226.00 to $209.00 in a research report on Monday, October 7th. Citigroup lowered shares of Hershey from a “neutral” rating to a “sell” rating and reduced their target price for the stock from $195.00 to $182.00 in a research note on Tuesday, August 27th. Sanford C. Bernstein cut shares of Hershey from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and cut their price target for the stock from $230.00 to $205.00 in a report on Monday, October 7th. Piper Sandler decreased their price objective on shares of Hershey from $179.00 to $165.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their target price on Hershey from $188.00 to $180.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Monday, October 14th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and sixteen have given a hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $191.55.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CAO Jennifer Mccalman sold 538 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, August 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $199.17, for a total transaction of $107,153.46. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 3,238 shares in the company, valued at $644,912.46. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Corporate insiders own 0.34% 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.