BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp Reduces Position in Hershey Company (The) (HSY)

BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp lowered its position in shares of Hershey Company (The) (NYSE:HSY) by 16.5% during the second quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 43,064 shares of the company’s stock after selling 8,534 shares during the period. BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp’s holdings in Hershey Company (The) were worth $4,624,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. BlackRock Inc. increased its position in Hershey Company (The) by 3,144.3% in the first quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 10,106,348 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,104,118,000 after buying an additional 9,794,835 shares during the period. Rothschild Asset Management Inc. increased its position in Hershey Company (The) by 7,236.9% in the first quarter. Rothschild Asset Management Inc. now owns 500,009 shares of the company’s stock worth $54,626,000 after buying an additional 493,194 shares during the period. HS Management Partners LLC acquired a new position in Hershey Company (The) during the first quarter worth approximately $34,345,000. Smith Asset Management Group LP acquired a new position in Hershey Company (The) during the first quarter worth approximately $33,672,000. Finally, SG Americas Securities LLC increased its position in Hershey Company (The) by 103.9% in the first quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 11,407 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,246,000 after buying an additional 305,793 shares during the period. 51.31% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Shares of Hershey Company (NYSE HSY) opened at 107.61 on Tuesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $22.86 billion, a PE ratio of 34.38 and a beta of 0.38. The company has a 50-day moving average of $105.88 and a 200-day moving average of $108.64. Hershey Company has a 1-year low of $94.03 and a 1-year high of $116.49.

Hershey Company (The) (NYSE:HSY) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, July 26th. The company reported $1.09 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.90 by $0.19. The business had revenue of $1.66 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.65 billion. Hershey Company (The) had a net margin of 8.95% and a return on equity of 119.66%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.85 earnings per share. Equities research analysts predict that Hershey Company will post $4.82 EPS for the current fiscal year.

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 15th. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 25th will be given a dividend of $0.656 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, August 23rd. This is a positive change from Hershey Company (The)’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.62. This represents a $2.62 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.44%. Hershey Company (The)’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 78.66%.

ILLEGAL ACTIVITY WARNING: “[[title]]” was first published by [[site]] and is the property of of [[site]]. If you are accessing this story on another site, it was copied illegally and republished in violation of US & international trademark & copyright law. The correct version of this story can be read at [[permalink]].

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on HSY. Deutsche Bank AG cut their price objective on shares of Hershey Company (The) from $117.00 to $114.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, April 28th. Zacks Investment Research raised shares of Hershey Company (The) from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $121.00 price objective on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, June 28th. Morgan Stanley cut their price objective on shares of Hershey Company (The) from $111.00 to $108.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, July 18th. J P Morgan Chase & Co reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $116.00 price objective (down previously from $119.00) on shares of Hershey Company (The) in a research report on Wednesday, June 28th. Finally, BidaskClub downgraded shares of Hershey Company (The) from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 12th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. The stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $110.95.

In related news, SVP D Michael Wege sold 1,100 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, July 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $105.45, for a total transaction of $115,995.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 27,866 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,938,469.70. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, SVP Terence L. O’day sold 37,875 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, June 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $113.88, for a total value of $4,313,205.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 75,303 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,575,505.64. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 92,159 shares of company stock worth $10,522,047. Insiders own 0.92% of the company’s stock.

About Hershey Company (The)

The Hershey Company is a producer of chocolate in North America. The Company’s principal product offerings include chocolate and non-chocolate confectionery products; gum and mint refreshment products; pantry items, such as baking ingredients and beverages, and snack items, such as spreads, meat snacks, bars and snack bites and mixes.

Want to see what other hedge funds are holding HSY? Visit HoldingsChannel.com to get the latest 13F filings and insider trades for Hershey Company (The) (NYSE:HSY).