Hershey Co (NYSE:HSY) CEO Michele Buck sold 1,500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $138.01, for a total transaction of $207,015.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 159,929 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $22,071,801.29. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC.
Michele Buck also recently made the following trade(s):
- On Friday, May 31st, Michele Buck sold 6,000 shares of Hershey stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $129.14, for a total transaction of $774,840.00.
- On Monday, April 22nd, Michele Buck sold 1,500 shares of Hershey stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $117.00, for a total transaction of $175,500.00.
- On Wednesday, March 20th, Michele Buck sold 1,500 shares of Hershey stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $109.52, for a total transaction of $164,280.00.
Shares of NYSE HSY traded down $0.18 during trading on Tuesday, reaching $137.70. 23,895 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,289,924. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $130.34. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.27, a current ratio of 0.92 and a quick ratio of 0.59. The stock has a market capitalization of $28.91 billion, a PE ratio of 25.60, a PEG ratio of 3.03 and a beta of 0.11. Hershey Co has a 52-week low of $90.52 and a 52-week high of $139.34.
Hershey (NYSE:HSY) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 25th. The company reported $1.59 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.48 by $0.11. The company had revenue of $2.02 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2 billion. Hershey had a net margin of 14.44% and a return on equity of 90.64%. The firm’s revenue was up 2.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.41 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Hershey Co will post 5.7 EPS for the current fiscal year.
The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 14th. Investors of record on Friday, May 24th were issued a $0.722 dividend. This represents a $2.89 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.10%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, May 23rd. Hershey’s payout ratio is 53.92%.
Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of HSY. Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund boosted its holdings in shares of Hershey by 10,179.7% in the fourth quarter. Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund now owns 3,456,662 shares of the company’s stock worth $32,000 after buying an additional 3,423,036 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Hershey during the 4th quarter worth approximately $142,502,000. BlackRock Inc. raised its stake in Hershey by 8.4% during the 4th quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 13,764,673 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,475,299,000 after acquiring an additional 1,070,632 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its stake in Hershey by 365.2% during the 1st quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 953,783 shares of the company’s stock worth $109,523,000 after acquiring an additional 748,757 shares during the period. Finally, FMR LLC raised its stake in Hershey by 9.8% during the 4th quarter. FMR LLC now owns 6,142,122 shares of the company’s stock worth $658,314,000 after acquiring an additional 550,341 shares during the period. 53.56% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.
Several brokerages recently commented on HSY. Zacks Investment Research raised shares of Hershey from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $139.00 price objective on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, May 8th. UBS Group set a $100.00 price objective on shares of Hershey and gave the company a “sell” rating in a research report on Friday, April 26th. BMO Capital Markets increased their price objective on shares of Hershey from $93.00 to $108.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday, April 26th. Barclays increased their price objective on shares of Hershey from $103.00 to $120.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, April 26th. Finally, Bank of America reissued a “buy” rating and set a $130.00 price objective (up from $120.00) on shares of Hershey in a research report on Friday, April 26th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Hershey has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $116.50.
Hershey Company Profile
The Hershey Company, together with its subsidiaries, manufactures and sells confectionery products. The company operates through two segments, North America; and International and Other. It offers chocolate and non-chocolate confectionery products; gum and mint refreshment products comprising mints, chewing gums, and bubble gums; pantry items, such as baking ingredients, toppings, beverages, and sundae syrups; and snack items, including spreads, meat snacks, bars and snack bites, mixes, popcorn and protein bars, and cookies.