BMO Capital Markets Downgrades Hess (NYSE:HES) to Overweight

Hess (NYSE:HES) was downgraded by research analysts at BMO Capital Markets to an “overweight” rating in a report issued on Monday. They currently have a $160.00 target price on the oil and gas producer’s stock, down from their prior target price of $175.00. BMO Capital Markets’ price target indicates a potential upside of 17.63% from the company’s previous close.

Several other equities analysts have also weighed in on HES. Susquehanna reduced their price objective on shares of Hess from $166.00 to $151.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Monday. Citigroup raised their price objective on shares of Hess from $145.00 to $160.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 5th. Scotiabank reduced their price objective on shares of Hess from $165.00 to $157.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, July 12th. Sanford C. Bernstein upgraded shares of Hess from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and raised their target price for the stock from $166.00 to $172.00 in a report on Wednesday, July 17th. Finally, StockNews.com assumed coverage on shares of Hess in a report on Friday, June 28th. They issued a “hold” rating for the company. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $175.77.

Hess Stock Performance

Shares of HES opened at $136.02 on Monday. Hess has a 52-week low of $130.35 and a 52-week high of $167.75. The company has a quick ratio of 1.10, a current ratio of 1.27 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.78. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $144.62 and a 200 day moving average price of $149.20. The firm has a market capitalization of $41.91 billion, a PE ratio of 20.83 and a beta of 1.16.

Hess (NYSE:HES) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 31st. The oil and gas producer reported $2.62 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.48 by $0.14. Hess had a net margin of 21.22% and a return on equity of 27.43%. The company had revenue of $3.26 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.24 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.65 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 40.3% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Hess will post 11.08 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Trading of Hess

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. New Covenant Trust Company N.A. bought a new position in Hess during the first quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Pacific Capital Wealth Advisors Inc. bought a new position in Hess during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Rise Advisors LLC bought a new position in Hess during the first quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Cape Investment Advisory Inc. bought a new position in Hess during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $32,000. Finally, Riverview Trust Co bought a new position in Hess during the first quarter valued at approximately $36,000. 88.51% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

About Hess

Hess Corporation, an exploration and production company, explores, develops, produces, purchases, transports, and sells crude oil, natural gas liquids (NGLs), and natural gas. The company operates in two segments, Exploration and Production, and Midstream. It conducts production operations primarily in the United States, Guyana, the Malaysia/Thailand Joint Development Area, and Malaysia; and exploration activities principally offshore Guyana, the U.S.