Schulhoff & Co. Inc. Buys 115 Shares of The Hershey Company (NYSE:HSY)

Schulhoff & Co. Inc. raised its stake in The Hershey Company (NYSE:HSY) by 2.8% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 4,296 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 115 shares during the period. Schulhoff & Co. Inc.’s holdings in Hershey were worth $728,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Hershey by 66.7% during the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 972,836 shares of the company’s stock worth $186,571,000 after acquiring an additional 389,404 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp increased its position in Hershey by 5.8% in 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 last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA raised its stake in Hershey by 31.3% during the third quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 586,565 shares of the company’s stock valued at $112,491,000 after purchasing an additional 139,831 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its stake in Hershey by 2.6% during the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 4,387,715 shares of the company’s stock valued at $841,476,000 after purchasing an additional 109,336 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Proficio Capital Partners LLC bought a new position in Hershey during the fourth quarter valued at $18,273,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 57.96% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Hershey

In related news, CAO Jennifer Mccalman sold 278 shares of Hershey stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 2,682 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $396,936. This trade represents a 9.39 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Insiders own 0.34% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

HSY has been the topic of a number of research reports. TD Cowen reduced their target price on shares of Hershey from $190.00 to $172.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, January 8th. Jefferies Financial Group reduced their price objective on Hershey from $150.00 to $134.00 and set an “underperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, January 21st. UBS Group dropped their target price on Hershey from $189.00 to $163.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, January 16th. Citigroup upgraded Hershey from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and decreased their price target for the company from $159.00 to $154.00 in a report on Friday, February 7th. Finally, Piper Sandler downgraded Hershey from a “neutral” rating to an “underweight” rating and lowered their price target for the stock from $153.00 to $120.00 in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and sixteen have assigned a hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $164.15.

Hershey Stock Performance

Hershey stock opened at $172.33 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.68, a quick ratio of 0.64 and a current ratio of 0.96. The company has a market capitalization of $34.87 billion, a PE ratio of 15.81, a P/E/G ratio of 5.90 and a beta of 0.37. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $160.53 and a 200-day moving average price of $177.50. The Hershey Company has a fifty-two week low of $140.13 and a fifty-two week high of $211.92.

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

Hershey Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 14th. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 17th will be issued a dividend of $1.37 per share. This represents a $5.48 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.18%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 14th. Hershey’s payout ratio is 50.28%.

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.