1,226 Shares in The Hershey Company (NYSE:HSY) Bought by RFG Bristol Wealth Advisors LLC

RFG Bristol Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new stake in The Hershey Company (NYSE:HSY) in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund bought 1,226 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $208,000.

Several other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the business. State Street Corp raised its position in shares of Hershey by 5.8% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 7,029,551 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,348,127,000 after purchasing an additional 386,670 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its holdings in Hershey by 5.6% during the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 4,635,390 shares of the company’s stock worth $785,003,000 after buying an additional 247,675 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in Hershey by 1.3% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 3,801,145 shares of the company’s stock valued at $642,139,000 after buying an additional 47,394 shares in the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Hershey by 66.7% in the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 972,836 shares of the company’s stock valued at $186,571,000 after buying an additional 389,404 shares during the period. Finally, Stifel Financial Corp increased its position in shares of Hershey by 3.2% during the third quarter. Stifel Financial Corp now owns 964,748 shares of the company’s stock worth $185,027,000 after acquiring an additional 29,507 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 57.96% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on HSY shares. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed a “sector perform” rating and issued a $178.00 target price on shares of Hershey in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. Citigroup raised Hershey from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and reduced their price objective for the stock from $159.00 to $154.00 in a research report on Friday, February 7th. Stifel Nicolaus dropped their target price on Hershey from $170.00 to $160.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, February 7th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on Hershey from $125.00 to $132.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research report on Friday, March 14th. Finally, DA Davidson lowered their price objective on shares of Hershey from $164.00 to $149.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, February 10th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and sixteen have assigned a hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $162.50.

Hershey Stock Down 3.4 %

Shares of NYSE HSY opened at $163.90 on Thursday. The stock has a market capitalization of $33.18 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.04, a PEG ratio of 5.90 and a beta of 0.32. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $164.97 and its 200 day moving average is $173.19. The Hershey Company has a 52 week low of $140.13 and a 52 week high of $211.92. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.68, a quick ratio of 0.64 and a current ratio of 0.96.

Hershey (NYSE:HSY) last released its earnings results on Thursday, February 6th. The company reported $2.69 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.40 by $0.29. Hershey had a net margin of 19.83% and a return on equity of 44.77%. Sell-side analysts forecast that The Hershey Company will post 6.12 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Hershey Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 14th. Investors of record on Monday, February 17th were given a dividend of $1.37 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 14th. This represents a $5.48 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.34%. Hershey’s dividend payout ratio is presently 50.28%.

Insider Activity

In other news, CAO Jennifer Mccalman sold 278 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, February 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $148.00, for a total transaction of $41,144.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 2,682 shares in the company, valued at $396,936. This represents a 9.39 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Insiders own 0.34% of the company’s stock.

Hershey 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.