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

The Hershey Company (NYSE:HSY) announced a quarterly dividend on Thursday, November 7th,RTT News reports. Investors of record on Monday, November 18th will be paid a dividend of 1.37 per share on Monday, December 16th. This represents a $5.48 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.17%.

Hershey has raised its dividend by an average of 12.2% per year over the last three years and has increased its dividend annually for the last 15 consecutive years. Hershey has a dividend payout ratio of 60.6% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Analysts expect Hershey to earn $8.88 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 61.7%.

Hershey Price Performance

Shares of HSY opened at $172.89 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 0.86, a quick ratio of 0.48 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.87. The firm has a market cap of $34.97 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.21, a PEG ratio of 4.14 and a beta of 0.38. Hershey has a 52 week low of $171.67 and a 52 week high of $211.92. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $189.89 and a 200-day moving average of $192.34.

Hershey (NYSE:HSY) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, November 7th. The company reported $2.34 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.50 by ($0.16). The business had revenue of $2.99 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.07 billion. Hershey had a return on equity of 45.36% and a net margin of 16.76%. As a group, analysts forecast that Hershey will post 9.39 EPS for the current year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

HSY has been the topic of several research reports. Stifel Nicolaus dropped their price objective on shares of Hershey from $195.00 to $180.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, October 25th. Citigroup cut Hershey from a “neutral” rating to a “sell” rating and dropped their price target for the stock from $195.00 to $182.00 in a research report on Tuesday, August 27th. UBS Group lowered Hershey from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and reduced their price objective for the company from $226.00 to $209.00 in a research report on Monday, October 7th. Bank of America dropped their target price on Hershey from $200.00 to $195.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, October 15th. Finally, Redburn Atlantic assumed coverage on shares of Hershey in a report on Tuesday, October 22nd. They set a “sell” rating and a $165.00 price target for the company. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and fourteen have given a hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Hershey has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $191.61.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CAO Jennifer Mccalman sold 538 shares of Hershey stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $199.17, for a total value of $107,153.46. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 3,238 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $644,912.46. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. 0.29% 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.