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

The Hershey Company (NYSE:HSY) announced a quarterly dividend on Thursday, May 2nd, RTT News reports. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 17th will be paid a dividend of 1.37 per share on Friday, June 14th. This represents a $5.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.77%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 16th.

Hershey has increased its dividend payment by an average of 12.2% annually over the last three years and has raised its dividend every year for the last 15 years. Hershey has a payout ratio of 55.4% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities research 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 Trading Up 1.0 %

Shares of HSY opened at $197.92 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.92, a current ratio of 0.97 and a quick ratio of 0.52. Hershey has a 1-year low of $178.82 and a 1-year high of $275.89. The company has a market capitalization of $40.37 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.87, a P/E/G ratio of 3.01 and a beta of 0.33. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $191.85 and its 200 day simple moving average is $190.72.

Hershey (NYSE:HSY) last released its earnings results on Friday, May 3rd. The company reported $3.07 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.72 by $0.35. Hershey had a return on equity of 51.79% and a net margin of 16.67%. The business had revenue of $3.25 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.11 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $2.96 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 8.9% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts forecast that Hershey will post 9.6 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have issued reports on HSY shares. Barclays upped their price target on shares of Hershey from $200.00 to $210.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, February 12th. Piper Sandler lowered their price objective on Hershey from $200.00 to $179.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, April 15th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on shares of Hershey from $185.00 to $193.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, February 9th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price objective on shares of Hershey from $205.00 to $200.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 17th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus raised their target price on Hershey from $195.00 to $205.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 25th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have issued a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $212.78.

Insider Activity at Hershey

In other Hershey news, CFO Steven E. Voskuil sold 1,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated 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 directly owns 38,728 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,196,824.24. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. 0.34% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.