Hershey (HSY) Stock Forecast, Price & News

16 Wall Street research analysts have issued "buy," "hold," and "sell" ratings for Hershey in the last year. There are currently 12 hold ratings and 4 buy ratings for the stock. The consensus among Wall Street research analysts is that investors should "hold" HSY shares. A hold rating indicates that analysts believe investors should maintain any existing positions they have in HSY, but not buy additional shares or sell existing shares.
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16 equities research analysts have issued 1-year price objectives for Hershey's shares. Their HSY share price forecasts range from $235.00 to $310.00. On average, they predict the company's stock price to reach $265.06 in the next twelve months. This suggests that the stock has a possible downside of 0.7%.
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Hershey's stock was trading at $231.57 at the beginning of the year. Since then, HSY shares have increased by 15.2% and is now trading at $266.84.
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Hershey saw a increase in short interest in March. As of March 31st, there was short interest totaling 3,520,000 shares, an increase of 16.2% from the March 15th total of 3,030,000 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 1,050,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 3.4 days.
View Hershey's Short Interest.

The company is scheduled to release its next quarterly earnings announcement on Thursday, July 27th 2023.
View our HSY earnings forecast.

The Hershey Company (NYSE:HSY) posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April, 27th. The company reported $2.96 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.67 by $0.29. The company earned $2.99 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $2.91 billion. Hershey had a trailing twelve-month return on equity of 57.99% and a net margin of 15.81%. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 12.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $2.53 EPS.
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Hershey announced a quarterly dividend on Tuesday, April 25th. Investors of record on Friday, May 19th will be paid a dividend of $1.036 per share on Thursday, June 15th. This represents a $4.14 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.55%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 18th.
Read our dividend analysis for HSY.

ETFs with the largest weight of Hershey (NYSE:HSY) stock in their portfolio include Invesco Dynamic Food & Beverage ETF (PBJ), AdvisorShares Vice ETF (VICE), AdvisorShares Focused Equity ETF (CWS), First Trust Nasdaq Food & Beverage ETF (FTXG), Invesco DWA Consumer Staples Momentum ETF (PSL), WBI BullBear Quality 3000 ETF (WBIL), Vesper U.S. Large Cap Short-Term Reversal Strategy ETF (UTRN) and American Customer Satisfaction ETF (ACSI).

Hershey (NYSE:HSY) pays an annual dividend of $4.14 per share and currently has a dividend yield of 1.51%. The company has been increasing its dividend for 13 consecutive years, indicating the company has a strong committment to maintain and grow its dividend. The dividend payout ratio is 50.24%. This payout ratio is at a healthy, sustainable level, below 75%. Based on earnings estimates, HSY will have a dividend payout ratio of 40.16% next year. This indicates that the company will be able to sustain or increase its dividend.
Read our dividend analysis for HSY.

Hershey issued an update on its FY 2023 earnings guidance on Thursday, April, 27th. The company provided EPS guidance of $9.46-$9.46 for the period, compared to the consensus EPS estimate of $9.42. The company issued revenue guidance of $11.25 billion-$11.25 billion, compared to the consensus revenue estimate of $11.22 billion.

208 employees have rated Hershey Chief Executive Officer Michele Buck on Glassdoor.com. Michele Buck has an approval rating of 89% among the company's employees.

Based on aggregate information from My MarketBeat watchlists, some companies that other Hershey investors own include Johnson & Johnson (JNJ), Walt Disney (DIS), AT&T (T), NVIDIA (NVDA), Verizon Communications (VZ), Chevron (CVX), Procter & Gamble (PG), Coca-Cola (KO), Walmart (WMT) and Cisco Systems (CSCO).

Hershey trades on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) under the ticker symbol "HSY."

Hershey's stock is owned by a number of retail and institutional investors. Top institutional investors include BlackRock Inc. (7.19%), State Street Corp (3.44%), Geode Capital Management LLC (1.71%), Renaissance Technologies LLC (1.13%), Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD (0.85%) and GQG Partners LLC (0.74%). Insiders that own company stock include Charles R Raup, Christopher M Scalia, Hershey Trust Co, Hershey Trust Co Trustee In Tr, James Turoff, Jason Reiman, Jennifer Mccalman, Kristen J Riggs, Michele Buck, Pamela M Arway, Pamela M Arway, Robert Malcolm and Rohit Grover.
View institutional ownership trends.

Shares of HSY stock can be purchased through any online brokerage account. Popular online brokerages with access to the U.S. stock market include WeBull, Vanguard Brokerage Services, TD Ameritrade, E*TRADE, Robinhood, Fidelity, and Charles Schwab.
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One share of HSY stock can currently be purchased for approximately $266.84.

Hershey (NYSE:HSY) has a market capitalization of $54.54 billion and generates $10.74 billion in revenue each year. The company earns $1.64 billion in net income (profit) each year or $8.24 on an earnings per share basis.

The company employs 19,865 workers across the globe.

Hershey's mailing address is 19 East Chocolate Avenue, Hershey PA, 17033. The official website for the company is www.thehersheycompany.com. The company can be reached via phone at (717) 534-4200, via email at investorrelations@hersheys.com, or via fax at 717-534-7873.