KFG Wealth Management LLC Sells 74 Shares of The Hershey Company (NYSE:HSY)

KFG Wealth Management LLC lessened its position in The Hershey Company (NYSE:HSY) by 2.2% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 3,266 shares of the company’s stock after selling 74 shares during the period. KFG Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Hershey were worth $609,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Hershey by 1.5% during the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 14,911,173 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,983,427,000 after buying an additional 222,960 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Hershey by 9.1% during the 1st quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 3,489,322 shares of the company’s stock worth $886,746,000 after buying an additional 290,920 shares during the last quarter. Morgan Stanley raised its stake in Hershey by 57.2% in the 4th quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 2,648,666 shares of the company’s stock worth $613,352,000 after purchasing an additional 964,019 shares in the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB raised its stake in Hershey by 143.7% in the 3rd quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 2,465,403 shares of the company’s stock worth $496,039,000 after purchasing an additional 1,453,819 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp raised its stake in Hershey by 2.0% in the 3rd quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 1,779,549 shares of the company’s stock worth $356,052,000 after purchasing an additional 35,393 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 57.96% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have weighed in on the stock. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price objective on shares of Hershey from $195.00 to $205.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 25th. Sanford C. Bernstein upgraded shares of Hershey from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $235.00 target price for the company in a research report on Monday, January 29th. Piper Sandler dropped their target price on shares of Hershey from $200.00 to $179.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Monday. Royal Bank of Canada restated a “sector perform” rating and issued a $213.00 target price on shares of Hershey in a research report on Friday, March 15th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on shares of Hershey from $185.00 to $193.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, February 9th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, sixteen have given a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Hershey presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $223.33.

Hershey Stock Up 0.1 %

NYSE HSY traded up $0.16 on Friday, hitting $185.02. 1,740,003 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,981,138. The company has a market cap of $37.73 billion, a PE ratio of 20.32, a PEG ratio of 2.80 and a beta of 0.34. The Hershey Company has a 12 month low of $178.82 and a 12 month high of $276.88. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $192.52 and a 200-day moving average of $191.07. The company has a current ratio of 0.97, a quick ratio of 0.52 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.92.

Hershey (NYSE:HSY) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 8th. The company reported $2.02 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.95 by $0.07. Hershey had a net margin of 16.67% and a return on equity of 51.79%. The firm had revenue of $2.66 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.72 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $2.02 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up .2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts forecast that The Hershey Company will post 9.6 earnings per share for the current year.

Hershey Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, February 20th were given a dividend of $1.37 per share. 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 dividend yield of 2.96%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 16th. Hershey’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 60.55%.

Insider Activity at Hershey

In related news, CFO Steven E. Voskuil sold 1,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $197.90, for a total transaction of $296,850.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 40,228 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,961,121.20. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In related news, CFO Steven E. Voskuil sold 1,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated 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 owns 40,228 shares in the company, valued at $7,961,121.20. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, CAO Jennifer Mccalman sold 453 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $198.54, for a total transaction of $89,938.62. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 1,862 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $369,681.48. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 3,453 shares of company stock valued at $670,244 over the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 0.34% of the company’s stock.

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.