Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc. Invests $136,000 in The Hershey Company (NYSE:HSY)

Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc. bought a new position in shares of The Hershey Company (NYSE:HSY) in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund bought 742 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $136,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in Hershey by 14.2% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 17,341,721 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,372,965,000 after acquiring an additional 2,158,912 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Hershey during the fourth quarter worth about $349,448,000. Janus Henderson Group PLC boosted its position in Hershey by 6.5% during the first quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 1,487,565 shares of the company’s stock worth $289,327,000 after acquiring an additional 90,329 shares during the last quarter. Vontobel Asset Management Inc. boosted its position in Hershey by 16.8% during the fourth quarter. Vontobel Asset Management Inc. now owns 781,967 shares of the company’s stock worth $151,715,000 after acquiring an additional 112,304 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its position in Hershey by 2.5% during the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 777,761 shares of the company’s stock worth $145,006,000 after acquiring an additional 19,018 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 57.96% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms recently weighed in on HSY. Barclays lowered their price target on shares of Hershey from $210.00 to $204.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, June 18th. Royal Bank of Canada decreased their target price on shares of Hershey from $209.00 to $205.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday. Argus decreased their target price on shares of Hershey from $240.00 to $225.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, May 30th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft decreased their target price on shares of Hershey from $192.00 to $191.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Friday. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein decreased their target price on shares of Hershey from $237.00 to $230.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, July 17th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, fifteen have issued a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Hershey presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $204.50.

Hershey Stock Up 1.7 %

HSY traded up $3.36 during trading hours on Tuesday, hitting $199.38. 1,388,729 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,862,227. The Hershey Company has a 12-month low of $178.82 and a 12-month high of $230.69. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $189.83 and a 200 day moving average of $192.77. The firm has a market cap of $40.32 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.80, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.96 and a beta of 0.36. The company has a current ratio of 0.86, a quick ratio of 0.64 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.87.

Hershey (NYSE:HSY) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, August 1st. The company reported $1.27 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.44 by ($0.17). Hershey had a return on equity of 45.36% and a net margin of 16.76%. The business had revenue of $2.07 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.30 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $2.01 earnings per share. Hershey’s quarterly revenue was down 16.7% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts predict that The Hershey Company will post 9.59 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Hershey Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 16th. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 16th will be given a $1.37 dividend. This represents a $5.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.75%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, August 16th. Hershey’s dividend payout ratio is presently 54.31%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Hershey

In related news, CFO Steven E. Voskuil sold 1,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, June 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $182.93, for a total value of $274,395.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 35,728 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,535,723.04. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. In the last three months, insiders have sold 4,500 shares of company stock valued at $867,450. Insiders own 0.34% of the company’s stock.

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.