Hess Co. (NYSE:HES) Stock Position Reduced by Financial Counselors Inc.

Financial Counselors Inc. trimmed its position in Hess Co. (NYSE:HES) by 1.5% in the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 14,828 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock after selling 222 shares during the quarter. Financial Counselors Inc.’s holdings in Hess were worth $2,014,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Sanctuary Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Hess during the second quarter worth $6,054,000. Cetera Investment Advisers boosted its stake in Hess by 424.8% in the first quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 19,466 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $2,971,000 after acquiring an additional 15,757 shares during the period. Calamos Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Hess by 2.7% during the second quarter. Calamos Advisors LLC now owns 590,326 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $87,085,000 after purchasing an additional 15,684 shares during the last quarter. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. raised its position in shares of Hess by 255.1% during the 2nd quarter. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. now owns 6,836 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $1,008,000 after purchasing an additional 4,911 shares during the period. Finally, Mizuho Securities USA LLC raised its position in shares of Hess by 295.5% during the 3rd quarter. Mizuho Securities USA LLC now owns 84,277 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $11,445,000 after purchasing an additional 62,966 shares during the period. 88.51% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts recently commented on the company. Citigroup lowered their price objective on Hess from $160.00 to $145.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, September 5th. Scotiabank upped their price target on shares of Hess from $157.00 to $167.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 10th. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price objective on shares of Hess from $171.00 to $151.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, September 27th. BMO Capital Markets upped their target price on shares of Hess from $155.00 to $160.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, October 4th. Finally, UBS Group cut their price target on Hess from $192.00 to $173.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, September 18th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $163.30.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Hess news, CEO John B. Hess sold 92,894 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $147.80, for a total transaction of $13,729,733.20. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 229,465 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $33,914,927. This represents a 28.82 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Geurt G. Schoonman sold 6,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, November 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $141.91, for a total transaction of $851,460.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 27,581 shares in the company, valued at $3,914,019.71. This represents a 17.87 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 314,370 shares of company stock worth $45,856,309. 9.76% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Hess Stock Up 0.2 %

Shares of HES stock opened at $147.06 on Friday. Hess Co. has a 1 year low of $123.79 and a 1 year high of $163.98. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.75, a quick ratio of 1.13 and a current ratio of 1.26. The business’s fifty day moving average is $140.25 and its 200-day moving average is $142.25. The stock has a market cap of $45.31 billion, a PE ratio of 17.14 and a beta of 1.15.

Hess (NYSE:HES) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The oil and gas producer reported $2.14 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.88 by $0.26. Hess had a net margin of 20.58% and a return on equity of 27.41%. The firm had revenue of $3.20 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.96 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.64 earnings per share. Hess’s revenue for the quarter was up 12.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts expect that Hess Co. will post 9.74 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Hess Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 30th. Investors of record on Monday, September 16th were issued a dividend of $0.50 per share. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.36%. This is a boost from Hess’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.44. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 16th. Hess’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 23.31%.

Hess Profile

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.