Hershey Company (The) (NYSE:HSY) Stock Has Consensus Price Target of $203.00 According to Analysts

Hershey Company (The) (NYSE:HSY) has received a consensus recommendation of “Hold” from the twenty-two research firms that are covering the firm, Marketbeat reports. Sixteen analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and six have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 12-month price target among analysts that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $199.44.

HSY has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Stifel Nicolaus reduced their price objective on shares of Hershey from $215.00 to $180.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, July 22nd. TD Cowen reduced their price objective on Hershey from $210.00 to $198.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft restated a “hold” rating and set a $191.00 price target on shares of Hershey in a research report on Friday, July 31st. Royal Bank Of Canada lowered their price target on shares of Hershey from $212.00 to $206.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, August 21st. Finally, Bank of America decreased their target price on Hershey from $220.00 to $200.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, June 25th.

Insider Activity

In related news, CFO Steven Voskuil sold 1,500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $170.00, for a total value of $255,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 53,195 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $9,043,150. This represents a 2.74% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. 0.08% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Hershey

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Sylvest Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Hershey by 1.1% during the 1st quarter. Sylvest Advisors LLC now owns 5,042 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,048,000 after buying an additional 56 shares in the last quarter. Faithward Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Hershey by 2.1% in the 4th quarter. Faithward Advisors LLC now owns 2,935 shares of the company’s stock worth $534,000 after acquiring an additional 59 shares in the last quarter. Delta Asset Management LLC TN boosted its stake in Hershey by 17.1% during the second quarter. Delta Asset Management LLC TN now owns 410 shares of the company’s stock worth $72,000 after acquiring an additional 60 shares in the last quarter. Meeder Advisory Services Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Hershey by 2.7% during the first quarter. Meeder Advisory Services Inc. now owns 2,316 shares of the company’s stock valued at $481,000 after purchasing an additional 61 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Eastern Bank lifted its holdings in shares of Hershey by 10.7% during the third quarter. Eastern Bank now owns 702 shares of the company’s stock valued at $111,000 after purchasing an additional 68 shares during the last quarter. 57.96% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Hershey Stock Performance

HSY stock opened at $170.90 on Wednesday. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $172.93 and a 200-day moving average price of $181.20. Hershey has a 1-year low of $156.16 and a 1-year high of $239.48. The company has a current ratio of 1.18, a quick ratio of 0.66 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.03. The firm has a market cap of $34.34 billion, a PE ratio of 23.23, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 0.10.

Hershey (NYSE:HSY) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, July 30th. The company reported $1.90 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.43 by $0.47. Hershey had a return on equity of 31.92% and a net margin of 12.24%. The company had revenue of $2.79 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.63 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $1.21 EPS. Hershey’s quarterly revenue was up 6.6% compared to the same quarter last year. Hershey has set its FY 2026 guidance at 8.360-8.520 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Hershey will post 8.48 earnings per share for the current year.

Hershey Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 15th. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 14th were paid a dividend of $1.4520 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, August 14th. This represents a $5.81 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.4%. Hershey’s payout ratio is presently 79.37%.

About Hershey

The Hershey Company (NYSE: HSY) is a global confectionery and snack food company headquartered in Hershey, Pennsylvania. Founded by Milton S. Hershey in 1894, the company began as a chocolate manufacturer and has grown into one of the largest producers of confectionery products in North America.

Hershey’s portfolio includes chocolate, candy, gum, mints, protein bars and salty snacks. Its well-known brands include Hershey’s, Reese’s, Kisses, Kit Kat, Jolly Rancher, Twizzlers, Ice Breakers, SkinnyPop and Dot’s.