The Hershey Company (NYSE:HSY) Declares Quarterly Dividend of $1.37

The Hershey Company (NYSE:HSY) declared a quarterly dividend on Friday, May 3rd, RTT News reports. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 17th will be given a dividend of 1.37 per share on Friday, June 14th. This represents a $5.48 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.77%.

Hershey has raised its dividend payment by an average of 12.2% annually over the last three years and has increased its dividend annually for the last 15 consecutive years. Hershey has a payout ratio of 55.4% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Analysts expect Hershey to earn $9.78 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $5.48 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 56.0%.

Hershey Price Performance

Shares of Hershey stock traded up $2.04 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $197.92. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 3,394,457 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,991,283. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $191.85 and a 200-day moving average price of $190.72. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.92, a current ratio of 0.97 and a quick ratio of 0.52. The stock has a market cap of $40.37 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.87, a P/E/G ratio of 2.97 and a beta of 0.33. Hershey has a one year low of $178.82 and a one year high of $275.89.

Hershey (NYSE:HSY) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Friday, May 3rd. The company reported $3.07 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.72 by $0.35. The company had revenue of $3.25 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.11 billion. Hershey had a return on equity of 51.79% and a net margin of 16.67%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $2.96 earnings per share. On average, analysts predict that Hershey will post 9.6 EPS for the current year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

HSY has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on shares of Hershey from $185.00 to $193.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, February 9th. Barclays increased their price objective on shares of Hershey from $200.00 to $210.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, February 12th. Sanford C. Bernstein upgraded 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. Morgan Stanley downgraded Hershey from an “equal weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and reduced their price target for the stock from $191.00 to $183.00 in a report on Monday, February 12th. Finally, BNP Paribas cut Hershey from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $208.00 price objective for the company. in a 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 given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $212.78.

Insider Activity

In other Hershey news, CFO Steven E. Voskuil sold 1,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $185.83, for a total transaction of $278,745.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 38,728 shares in the company, valued at $7,196,824.24. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. 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.