Tarbox Family Office Inc. Acquires 1,156 Shares of The Hershey Company (NYSE:HSY)

Tarbox Family Office Inc. grew its stake in shares of The Hershey Company (NYSE:HSY) by 53.7% during the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 3,309 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,156 shares during the quarter. Tarbox Family Office Inc.’s holdings in Hershey were worth $644,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of HSY. BKM Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in Hershey during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $26,000. First Financial Corp IN bought a new position in shares of Hershey during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $29,000. Riverview Trust Co purchased a new position in shares of Hershey in the first quarter valued at $29,000. Highlander Capital Management LLC increased 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. purchased a new stake in Hershey during the fourth quarter valued at $32,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 57.96% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have commented on HSY. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price objective on shares of Hershey from $205.00 to $195.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, June 21st. Citigroup reduced their price objective on Hershey from $213.00 to $199.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 11th. Edward Jones reaffirmed a “hold” rating on shares of Hershey in a research note on Friday, April 19th. Piper Sandler reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $179.00 target price on shares of Hershey in a research report on Friday, June 21st. Finally, BNP Paribas downgraded Hershey from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $208.00 price target for the company. in a research report on Tuesday, March 26th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have assigned a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $209.67.

Insider Buying and Selling at Hershey

In other Hershey news, CFO Steven E. Voskuil sold 1,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $204.54, for a total transaction of $306,810.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 37,228 shares in the company, valued at $7,614,615.12. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 4,500 shares of company stock valued at $859,950. Company insiders own 0.34% of the company’s stock.

Hershey Trading Up 0.5 %

Shares of NYSE:HSY traded up $0.97 during trading on Friday, reaching $184.65. 686,352 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,857,282. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $194.29 and its 200-day simple moving average is $192.22. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.92, a current ratio of 0.97 and a quick ratio of 0.64. The Hershey Company has a 12-month low of $178.82 and a 12-month high of $251.73. The firm has a market capitalization of $37.34 billion, a PE ratio of 18.33, a P/E/G ratio of 4.09 and a beta of 0.37.

Hershey (NYSE:HSY) last released its quarterly earnings data on Friday, May 3rd. The company reported $3.07 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.74 by $0.33. Hershey had a return on equity of 50.15% and a net margin of 18.13%. The company 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 business posted $2.96 EPS. Hershey’s quarterly revenue was up 8.9% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts anticipate that The Hershey Company will post 9.6 EPS for the current year.

Hershey Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 14th. Investors of record on Friday, May 17th were paid a $1.37 dividend. This represents a $5.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.97%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, May 16th. Hershey’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 54.31%.

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.