Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. Decreases Position in Hershey Company (The) $HSY

15 Apr 2026, 10:22 by Tristan Rich · The Markets Daily

Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. decreased its holdings in Hershey Company (The) (NYSE:HSY – Free Report) by 5.7% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 345,150 shares of the company’s stock after selling 21,013 shares during the period. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. owned about 0.17% of Hershey worth $62,810,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other large investors have also modified their holdings of the company. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. increased its holdings in Hershey by 6.5% during the 1st quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 15,310 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,618,000 after purchasing an additional 937 shares during the period. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Hershey by 20.2% in the 2nd quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 697 shares of the company’s stock valued at $116,000 after buying an additional 117 shares during the period. Gamco Investors INC. ET AL purchased a new position in shares of Hershey in the 2nd quarter valued at about $267,000. Bank of Nova Scotia grew its position in shares of Hershey by 4.5% during the second quarter. Bank of Nova Scotia now owns 17,927 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,975,000 after buying an additional 769 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Daiwa Securities Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Hershey by 5.4% during the second quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 22,247 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,692,000 after buying an additional 1,149 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 57.96% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on HSY. DA Davidson set a $243.00 price target on shares of Hershey in a research note on Friday, February 6th. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price objective on shares of Hershey from $195.00 to $230.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, February 6th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reduced their price objective on shares of Hershey from $212.00 to $200.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, March 30th. TD Cowen reaffirmed a “hold” rating on shares of Hershey in a research report on Friday, February 6th. Finally, Bank of America boosted their target price on shares of Hershey from $200.00 to $210.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, December 19th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and seventeen have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $224.56.

Check Out Our Latest Report on Hershey

Insider Activity at Hershey

In other Hershey news, CFO Steven E. Voskuil sold 1,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $216.71, for a total value of $325,065.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 59,869 shares in the company, valued at $12,974,210.99. This represents a 2.44% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, SVP Jason Reiman sold 2,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $226.07, for a total value of $452,140.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 41,036 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,277,008.52. The trade was a 4.65% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders sold a total of 10,000 shares of company stock valued at $2,195,945 over the last ninety days. Insiders own 0.08% of the company’s stock.

Hershey Stock Performance

Shares of HSY opened at $197.67 on Wednesday. The company has a market capitalization of $40.07 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 45.55, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.20 and a beta of 0.18. Hershey Company has a 52-week low of $150.04 and a 52-week high of $239.48. The company has a quick ratio of 0.72, a current ratio of 1.19 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.01. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $218.27 and a 200 day moving average price of $196.88.

Hershey (NYSE:HSY – Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 5th. The company reported $1.71 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.40 by $0.31. The company had revenue of $3.09 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.97 billion. Hershey had a net margin of 7.55% and a return on equity of 27.90%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $2.69 earnings per share. Hershey has set its FY 2026 guidance at 8.200-8.520 EPS. Research analysts predict that Hershey Company will post 6.12 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Hershey Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 16th. Investors of record on Tuesday, February 17th were paid a dividend of $1.452 per share. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, February 17th. This represents a $5.81 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.9%. This is an increase from Hershey’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.37. Hershey’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 133.87%.

Hershey Company Profile

(Free Report)

The Hershey Company (NYSE: HSY) is a leading North American chocolatier and snack manufacturer headquartered in Hershey, Pennsylvania. The company develops, produces and markets a wide range of confectionery and snack products for retail, foodservice and international customers. Hershey’s business spans manufacturing, branded product marketing, packaging and distribution across grocery, convenience, mass merchant and e-commerce channels.