42,924 Shares in Hershey Company (The) $HSY Purchased by Bell Bank

Bell Bank purchased a new stake in Hershey Company (The) (NYSE:HSY) during the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor purchased 42,924 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,765,000.

Other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Vestia Personal Wealth Advisors raised its stake in Hershey by 4.2% during the third quarter. Vestia Personal Wealth Advisors now owns 2,102 shares of the company’s stock worth $331,000 after acquiring an additional 84 shares during the period. First Bank & Trust acquired a new stake in Hershey in the third quarter worth $1,555,000. IFP Advisors Inc lifted its stake in Hershey by 4.7% in the third quarter. IFP Advisors Inc now owns 1,751 shares of the company’s stock valued at $276,000 after buying an additional 79 shares during the last quarter. 1834 Investment Advisors Co. grew its position in shares of Hershey by 0.4% during the third quarter. 1834 Investment Advisors Co. now owns 32,017 shares of the company’s stock worth $5,046,000 after acquiring an additional 135 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Guardian Asset Advisors LLC lifted its position in Hershey by 2.6% in the 3rd quarter. Guardian Asset Advisors LLC now owns 5,022 shares of the company’s stock valued at $791,000 after purchasing an additional 126 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 57.96% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on HSY shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price target on Hershey from $193.00 to $183.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, October 15th. Stifel Nicolaus decreased their price objective on shares of Hershey from $215.00 to $180.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, July 22nd. UBS Group reaffirmed a “neutral” rating on shares of Hershey in a research note on Tuesday. TD Cowen lowered their price objective on shares of Hershey from $210.00 to $198.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, October 13th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada dropped their price target on Hershey from $212.00 to $206.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, August 21st. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and sixteen have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Hershey has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $199.44.

Hershey Trading Up 1.4%

Shares of NYSE HSY opened at $169.34 on Wednesday. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $172.37 and a 200 day simple moving average of $180.45. Hershey Company has a 52 week low of $156.16 and a 52 week high of $239.48. The stock has a market cap of $34.03 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.00, a PEG ratio of 1.40 and a beta of 0.10. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.03, a quick ratio of 0.66 and a current ratio of 1.18.

Hershey (NYSE:HSY) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 30th. The company reported $1.90 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.43 by $0.47. The business had revenue of $2.79 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.63 billion. Hershey had a net margin of 12.24% and a return on equity of 31.92%. Hershey’s quarterly revenue was up 6.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.21 EPS. Hershey has set its FY 2026 guidance at 8.360-8.520 EPS. On average, research analysts predict that Hershey Company will post 8.47 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Hershey Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 15th. Investors of record on Friday, August 14th were given 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 yield of 3.4%. Hershey’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 79.37%.

Hershey Profile

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

Hershey’s portfolio includes chocolate, non-chocolate confectionery, gum and mints, and salty snacks. Its brands include Hershey’s, Reese’s, Hershey’s Kisses, Kit Kat in the United States under license from Nestlé, Jolly Rancher, Twizzlers, Ice Breakers, SkinnyPop and Dot’s Pretzels.