Waterfront Wealth Inc. Acquires Shares of 3,375 The Hershey Company (NYSE:HSY)

Waterfront Wealth Inc. purchased a new stake in The Hershey Company (NYSE:HSY) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 3,375 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $629,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of HSY. Pinnacle Bancorp Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Hershey during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $25,000. Costello Asset Management INC acquired a new stake in Hershey during the third quarter worth approximately $25,000. Zions Bancorporation N.A. grew its position in Hershey by 121.3% during the first quarter. Zions Bancorporation N.A. now owns 135 shares of the company’s stock worth $29,000 after buying an additional 74 shares in the last quarter. BKM Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in Hershey during the 4th quarter worth $26,000. Finally, First Financial Corp IN acquired a new position in Hershey in the 4th quarter valued at $29,000. 57.96% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling at Hershey

In other news, insider Charles R. Raup sold 2,065 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $191.85, for a total value of $396,170.25. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 14,770 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,833,624.50. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other Hershey news, CAO Jennifer Mccalman sold 453 shares of Hershey stock in a transaction on Friday, February 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $198.54, for a total value of $89,938.62. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 1,862 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $369,681.48. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Charles R. Raup sold 2,065 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $191.85, for a total transaction of $396,170.25. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 14,770 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,833,624.50. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 5,518 shares of company stock valued at $1,066,414. 0.34% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Hershey Trading Up 0.2 %

Shares of HSY stock traded up $0.40 on Thursday, hitting $182.85. The company had a trading volume of 88,540 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,966,379. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $192.87 and its two-hundred day moving average is $191.11. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.92, a quick ratio of 0.52 and a current ratio of 0.97. The firm has a market cap of $37.29 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.16, a P/E/G ratio of 2.81 and a beta of 0.34. The Hershey Company has a twelve month low of $178.82 and a twelve month high of $276.88.

Hershey (NYSE:HSY) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 8th. The company reported $2.02 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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 during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.72 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $2.02 EPS. The company’s revenue was up .2% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that The Hershey Company will post 9.6 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Hershey Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, February 20th were issued a $1.37 dividend. This is a positive change from Hershey’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.19. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 16th. This represents a $5.48 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.00%. Hershey’s payout ratio is presently 60.55%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

HSY has been the topic of several analyst reports. Stifel Nicolaus increased their target price on Hershey from $195.00 to $205.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, January 25th. Morgan Stanley lowered shares of Hershey from an “equal weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and decreased their target price for the company from $191.00 to $183.00 in a report on Monday, February 12th. Royal Bank of Canada reissued a “sector perform” rating and issued a $213.00 price objective on shares of Hershey in a research note on Friday, March 15th. BNP Paribas cut Hershey from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $208.00 target price for the company. in a research note on Tuesday, March 26th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on Hershey from $185.00 to $193.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, February 9th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, fifteen have issued a hold rating and five have assigned 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 $223.33.

Hershey 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.