Hershey’s Sweet Old Stocks

All of us are aware of the Hershey Foods Company. Most of us consume something made by the Hershey Food Company at least once per week, especially if that something is a candy bar. However, the company was formerly known as the Hershey Foods Corporation, up until 2004. And if you’re into collecting stock certificates, know someone who is, or you are thinking about it, these are very interesting and historical stock certificates to get your hands on.

The Hershey’s company was founded in 1894, but the process began in 1876 when Milton Hershey began a candy shop in Philadelphia. However, it failed just six years after being opened. After a failed endeavor in New York City, he returned to Philadelphia and started the Lancaster Caramel Company and this is an endeavor that proved to be successful. However, he sold it in 1900 to concentrate on making chocolate, so he began constructing a chocolate plant in 1903. After the plant began manufacturing chocolate, it was very successful. However, it was prior to this, in 1896, that Hershey had built a milk chocolate plant, which resulted in the Hershey Process in 1899. This is the very process that is used today.

Hershey’s was incorporated in 1908. With this incorporation, they were made a publicly traded company. And there are some very interesting facts regarding Hershey’s stocks. For instance, we all know that a stock split is a good thing. A person can have one stock split into two, which means more shares for them. Well, this has happened on several different occasions with Hershey’s. They saw a 3-for-1 stock split in 1947, a 5-for-1 stock dividend in 1962, and a series of 3-for-1 and 2-for-1 stock splits from 1983 to 2004. Anyone interested in collecting Hershey Foods stock certificates may wish to have stock certificates from these very special periods in Hershey stock history.

Another interesting aspect of Hershey stock history that is very special is the stock that was given to the Industrial School of Orphans in Hershey, Pennsylvania. Hershey had established the school in 1909 with his wife, but his wife passed away in 1915 and, since he was childless, he made sure that the school was set up very well financially for many years to come. The stocks that he awarded them were valued at $60 million at the time. To this day, the school still owns 31% of the company’s stock. As of 2007, the company’s worth stood at $4.97 billion and the revenue continues to grow every single year.

Even though the company is still in operation and will be for a very long time, there are a number of canceled stock certificates out there available for collectors to purchase. Perhaps one could even find themselves in possession of a canceled stock certificate awarded to the Industrial School of Orphans. If so, that is a certificate that would be very special to have, just like any Hershey’s certificate would be due to the incredible history of this very strong company.