Loring Wolcott & Coolidge Fiduciary Advisors LLP MA Has $2.30 Million Stock Holdings in The Hershey Company (NYSE:HSY)

Loring Wolcott & Coolidge Fiduciary Advisors LLP MA boosted its holdings in shares of The Hershey Company (NYSE:HSY) by 11.3% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 11,900 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,211 shares during the period. Loring Wolcott & Coolidge Fiduciary Advisors LLP MA’s holdings in Hershey were worth $2,303,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of HSY. Marshall Financial Group LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Hershey by 1.4% during the 3rd quarter. Marshall Financial Group LLC now owns 3,960 shares of the company’s stock worth $792,000 after acquiring an additional 53 shares during the period. Farmers & Merchants Trust Co of Chambersburg PA lifted its stake in shares of Hershey by 7.7% in the fourth quarter. Farmers & Merchants Trust Co of Chambersburg PA now owns 754 shares of the company’s stock valued at $141,000 after buying an additional 54 shares in the last quarter. Arthur M. Cohen & Associates LLC lifted its position in shares of Hershey by 0.4% during the third quarter. Arthur M. Cohen & Associates LLC now owns 14,261 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,853,000 after purchasing an additional 55 shares in the last quarter. Hazlett Burt & Watson Inc. increased its holdings in Hershey by 1.1% during the third quarter. Hazlett Burt & Watson Inc. now owns 5,258 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,052,000 after buying an additional 55 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Accurate Wealth Management LLC increased its holdings in Hershey by 4.2% during the fourth quarter. Accurate Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,428 shares of the company’s stock worth $272,000 after buying an additional 58 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 57.96% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

HSY has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Sanford C. Bernstein raised shares of Hershey from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $235.00 target price on the stock in a report on Monday, January 29th. Piper Sandler cut their price objective on shares of Hershey from $200.00 to $179.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, April 15th. Royal Bank of Canada reissued a “sector perform” rating and set a $213.00 price target on shares of Hershey in a research report on Friday, March 15th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on shares of Hershey from $185.00 to $193.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, February 9th. Finally, BNP Paribas lowered shares of Hershey from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $208.00 price objective for the company. in a report on Tuesday, March 26th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, sixteen have assigned a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Hershey has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $223.33.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CFO Steven E. Voskuil sold 1,500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $197.90, for a total value of $296,850.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 40,228 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,961,121.20. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. In related news, CAO Jennifer Mccalman sold 453 shares of Hershey stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $198.54, for a total transaction of $89,938.62. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 1,862 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $369,681.48. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CFO Steven E. Voskuil sold 1,500 shares of Hershey stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $197.90, for a total transaction of $296,850.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 40,228 shares in the company, valued at $7,961,121.20. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.29% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Hershey Price Performance

HSY traded up $0.77 during trading hours on Tuesday, hitting $187.10. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 661,535 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,959,176. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $192.16 and its 200-day moving average price is $190.81. The Hershey Company has a 12 month low of $178.82 and a 12 month high of $276.88. The stock has a market cap of $38.16 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.59, a P/E/G ratio of 2.84 and a beta of 0.34. The company has a current ratio of 0.97, a quick ratio of 0.52 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.92.

Hershey (NYSE:HSY) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 8th. The company reported $2.02 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.95 by $0.07. Hershey had a net margin of 16.67% and a return on equity of 51.79%. The company had revenue of $2.66 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.72 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $2.02 earnings per share. Hershey’s quarterly revenue was up .2% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts expect that The Hershey Company will post 9.6 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Hershey Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, February 20th were given a $1.37 dividend. This is a positive change from Hershey’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.19. This represents a $5.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.93%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 16th. Hershey’s dividend payout ratio is 60.55%.

About Hershey

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.