Hershey Q4 Adj. Profit Beats Estimates, Revenue Misses

(RTTNews) - Hershey Co. (HSY) Thursday announced an increase in fourth quarter net income to $213.38 million from $202.51 million last year. On a per share basis, earnings climbed to $0.98 from $0.91 a year ago. On an adjusted basis, earnings were $1.08 per share.

On average, 14 analysts polled by Thomson Reuters expected the company to earn $1.05 per share. Analysts estimates usually exclude special items.

Net sales for the quarter declined to $1.909 billion from $2.010 billion in the prior year. Wall Street was looking for $1.98 billion.

In a separate announcement, Hershey said its Board has approved an additional $500 million stock repurchase authorization to repurchase shares of its Common Stock. The company plans to buy shares in open market and privately negotiated transactions.

Further, the company's Board declared quarterly dividends of $0.583 on the Common Stock and $0.53 on the Class B Common Stock, payable March 15, 2016, to stockholders on record February 25.