Bryn Mawr Capital Management LLC Acquires New Shares in The Hershey Company (NYSE:HSY)

Bryn Mawr Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in The Hershey Company (NYSE:HSY – Get Rating) in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor acquired 4,700 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,088,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in HSY. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its stake in Hershey by 2,693.0% in the first quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 1,094,755 shares of the company’s stock valued at $237,156,000 after acquiring an additional 1,055,559 shares during the period. BlackRock Inc. grew its stake in Hershey by 3.4% in the third quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 14,486,327 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,193,800,000 after acquiring an additional 473,552 shares during the period. Axiom Investors LLC DE grew its stake in Hershey by 185.9% in the third quarter. Axiom Investors LLC DE now owns 621,923 shares of the company’s stock valued at $137,115,000 after acquiring an additional 404,423 shares during the period. Eaton Vance Management grew its stake in Hershey by 136.7% in the first quarter. Eaton Vance Management now owns 567,949 shares of the company’s stock valued at $123,034,000 after acquiring an additional 327,965 shares during the period. Finally, Scout Investments Inc. grew its stake in Hershey by 468.2% in the fourth quarter. Scout Investments Inc. now owns 344,271 shares of the company’s stock valued at $79,723,000 after acquiring an additional 283,676 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 54.17% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have issued reports on the company. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their target price on Hershey from $255.00 to $277.00 in a research note on Thursday, February 2nd. Bank of America boosted their target price on Hershey from $280.00 to $300.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, April 28th. Barclays upped their price objective on Hershey from $245.00 to $265.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, April 28th. 92 Resources reaffirmed a “maintains” rating on shares of Hershey in a research report on Friday, April 28th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada upped their price objective on Hershey from $255.00 to $280.00 in a research report on Tuesday, May 2nd. Twelve investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $265.06.

Hershey Stock Up 0.3 %

HSY traded up $0.70 on Friday, hitting $261.08. 71,974 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,024,658. The Hershey Company has a 12 month low of $201.63 and a 12 month high of $276.88. The company has a market cap of $53.36 billion, a PE ratio of 31.62, a PEG ratio of 3.61 and a beta of 0.31. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.97, a quick ratio of 0.47 and a current ratio of 0.83. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $261.59 and its 200-day moving average is $242.28.

Hershey (NYSE:HSY – Get Rating) last released its earnings results on Thursday, April 27th. The company reported $2.96 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.67 by $0.29. The business had revenue of $2.99 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.91 billion. Hershey had a return on equity of 57.99% and a net margin of 15.81%. Hershey’s revenue was up 12.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $2.53 earnings per share. Equities research analysts predict that The Hershey Company will post 9.49 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Hershey Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 15th. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 19th will be paid a $1.036 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 18th. This represents a $4.14 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.59%. Hershey’s dividend payout ratio is 50.24%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Hershey

In other Hershey news, CEO Michele Buck sold 14,251 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $240.95, for a total value of $3,433,778.45. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 153,443 shares in the company, valued at $36,972,090.85. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. In other Hershey news, CEO Michele Buck sold 14,251 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $240.95, for a total value of $3,433,778.45. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 153,443 shares in the company, valued at $36,972,090.85. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, SVP Jason Reiman sold 2,825 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $239.52, for a total value of $676,644.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 17,655 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,228,725.60. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 53,538 shares of company stock worth $13,642,493 over the last 90 days. Company insiders own 0.34% of the company’s stock.

About Hershey

(Get Rating)

The Hershey Co engages in the manufacture and marketing of chocolate, sweets, mints and confectionery products. The firm operates through the following geographical segments: North America and International and Other. The North America is responsible for the traditional chocolate and non-chocolate confectionery market position of the company, as well as its grocery and snacks market positions, in the United States and Canada.