Gallacher Capital Management LLC Boosts Holdings in The Hershey Company (NYSE:HSY)

Gallacher Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in The Hershey Company (NYSE:HSY) by 33.5% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 2,803 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 704 shares during the quarter. Gallacher Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Hershey were worth $523,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Costello Asset Management INC bought a new stake in Hershey in the 3rd quarter valued at $25,000. BKM Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Hershey in the fourth quarter worth about $26,000. First Financial Corp IN purchased a new stake in shares of Hershey in the fourth quarter worth about $29,000. Highlander Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in Hershey by 125.3% during the fourth quarter. Highlander Capital Management LLC now owns 169 shares of the company’s stock valued at $32,000 after buying an additional 94 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Rakuten Securities Inc. purchased a new position in Hershey during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $32,000. Institutional investors own 57.96% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Royal Bank of Canada reissued a “sector perform” rating and issued a $213.00 target price on shares of Hershey in a report on Friday, March 15th. Citigroup decreased their target price on shares of Hershey from $213.00 to $199.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, April 11th. BNP Paribas downgraded shares of Hershey from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $208.00 price target for the company. in a report on Tuesday, March 26th. Morgan Stanley cut Hershey from an “equal weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and reduced their price objective for the stock from $191.00 to $183.00 in a research note on Monday, February 12th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on Hershey from $185.00 to $193.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, February 9th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have issued a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $212.78.

Insider Buying and Selling at Hershey

In other news, CFO Steven E. Voskuil sold 1,500 shares of Hershey stock in a transaction 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 completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 40,228 shares in the company, valued at $7,961,121.20. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. 0.34% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Hershey Stock Up 1.0 %

Shares of HSY traded up $2.04 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $197.92. 3,396,043 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,711,441. The company has a market capitalization of $40.37 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.62, a PEG ratio of 3.04 and a beta of 0.33. The company has a current ratio of 0.97, a quick ratio of 0.52 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.92. The Hershey Company has a 52 week low of $178.82 and a 52 week high of $275.89. The company’s 50 day moving average is $191.93 and its two-hundred day moving average is $190.76.

Hershey (NYSE:HSY) last released its quarterly earnings data on Friday, May 3rd. The company reported $3.07 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.74 by $0.33. Hershey had a net margin of 16.67% and a return on equity of 51.79%. The firm had revenue of $3.25 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.11 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $2.96 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 8.9% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that The Hershey Company will post 9.6 earnings per share for the current year.

Hershey Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 14th. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 17th will be given a dividend of $1.37 per share. This represents a $5.48 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.77%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 16th. Hershey’s dividend payout ratio is presently 54.31%.

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.