Kennon Green & Company LLC Acquires 1,062 Shares of The Hershey Company (NYSE:HSY)

Kennon Green & Company LLC raised its holdings in shares of The Hershey Company (NYSE:HSY) by 7.5% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 15,173 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,062 shares during the quarter. Hershey accounts for approximately 2.9% of Kennon Green & Company LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 11th biggest position. Kennon Green & Company LLC’s holdings in Hershey were worth $2,829,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of HSY. Costello Asset Management INC purchased a new stake in Hershey in the third quarter worth approximately $25,000. BKM Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Hershey in the fourth quarter worth $26,000. First Financial Corp IN purchased a new stake in Hershey during the fourth quarter valued at $29,000. Highlander Capital Management LLC boosted its position in Hershey by 125.3% in the fourth quarter. Highlander Capital Management LLC now owns 169 shares of the company’s stock worth $32,000 after purchasing an additional 94 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Rakuten Securities Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Hershey during the 4th quarter valued at about $32,000. Institutional investors own 57.96% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages recently issued reports on HSY. BNP Paribas lowered shares of Hershey from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $208.00 target price for the company. in a research report on Tuesday, March 26th. Morgan Stanley downgraded Hershey from an “equal weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and lowered their target price for the company from $191.00 to $183.00 in a research report on Monday, February 12th. Barclays boosted their price objective on Hershey from $200.00 to $210.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, February 12th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on shares of Hershey from $185.00 to $193.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, February 9th. Finally, Edward Jones reissued a “hold” rating on shares of Hershey in a research note on Friday, April 19th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have issued a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $212.78.

Hershey Price Performance

HSY stock traded up $4.72 during trading on Monday, hitting $190.88. 1,616,563 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,940,852. The stock has a market capitalization of $38.93 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.57, a P/E/G ratio of 2.86 and a beta of 0.34. The Hershey Company has a 52 week low of $178.82 and a 52 week high of $276.88. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $191.74 and a 200 day simple moving average of $190.61. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.92, a quick ratio of 0.52 and a current ratio of 0.97.

Hershey (NYSE:HSY) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 8th. The company reported $2.02 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.95 by $0.07. Hershey had a return on equity of 51.79% and a net margin of 16.67%. The company had revenue of $2.66 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.72 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $2.02 EPS. Hershey’s quarterly revenue was up .2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts expect that The Hershey Company will post 9.6 EPS 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 2.87%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 16th. Hershey’s dividend payout ratio is 60.55%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Hershey

In related news, CFO Steven E. Voskuil sold 1,500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $185.83, for a total value of $278,745.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 38,728 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,196,824.24. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other Hershey news, CAO Jennifer Mccalman sold 453 shares of the firm’s 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 completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 1,862 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $369,681.48. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, CFO Steven E. Voskuil sold 1,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $185.83, for a total transaction of $278,745.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 38,728 shares in the company, valued at $7,196,824.24. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 3,453 shares of company stock worth $665,534 over the last 90 days. Company insiders own 0.29% of the company’s stock.

Hershey Company 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.