BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp Decreases Stake in Hess Co. (NYSE:HES)

BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp reduced its holdings in shares of Hess Co. (NYSE:HES) by 12.6% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 46,272 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock after selling 6,670 shares during the quarter. BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp’s holdings in Hess were worth $6,284,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in HES. Drive Wealth Management LLC raised its stake in Hess by 1.6% during the 2nd quarter. Drive Wealth Management LLC now owns 4,599 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $678,000 after acquiring an additional 72 shares in the last quarter. Cassaday & Co Wealth Management LLC increased its position in shares of Hess by 2.4% during the third quarter. Cassaday & Co Wealth Management LLC now owns 3,266 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $444,000 after purchasing an additional 78 shares in the last quarter. UMB Bank n.a. lifted its holdings in shares of Hess by 4.7% in the 2nd quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 1,771 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $261,000 after purchasing an additional 80 shares during the last quarter. HB Wealth Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Hess by 0.6% in the 2nd quarter. HB Wealth Management LLC now owns 14,629 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $2,158,000 after purchasing an additional 87 shares during the period. Finally, EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC grew its stake in Hess by 47.6% during the 1st quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 273 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $43,000 after buying an additional 88 shares during the last quarter. 88.51% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Transactions at Hess

In other Hess news, SVP Geurt G. Schoonman sold 6,000 shares of Hess stock in a transaction on Thursday, November 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $141.91, for a total value of $851,460.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 27,581 shares in the company, valued at $3,914,019.71. This trade represents a 17.87 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, CEO John B. Hess sold 125,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $147.08, for a total transaction of $18,385,000.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 217,894 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $32,047,849.52. This represents a 36.45 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 314,370 shares of company stock worth $45,856,309 over the last quarter. 9.76% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Hess Stock Down 0.1 %

HES stock opened at $146.96 on Tuesday. The company has a market cap of $45.28 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.13 and a beta of 1.15. The company has a current ratio of 1.26, a quick ratio of 1.13 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.75. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $140.49 and its 200 day moving average price is $141.97. Hess Co. has a 52 week low of $123.79 and a 52 week high of $163.98.

Hess (NYSE:HES) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 30th. The oil and gas producer reported $2.14 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.88 by $0.26. The business had revenue of $3.20 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.96 billion. Hess had a return on equity of 27.41% and a net margin of 20.58%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 12.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.64 earnings per share. On average, research analysts expect that Hess Co. will post 9.74 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Hess Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 30th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 16th were paid a dividend of $0.50 per share. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.36%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 16th. This is a positive change from Hess’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.44. Hess’s dividend payout ratio is currently 23.31%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on HES shares. Susquehanna increased their price objective on Hess from $149.00 to $154.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, October 18th. Scotiabank raised their price objective 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. UBS Group reduced their target price on shares of Hess from $192.00 to $173.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, September 18th. Citigroup lowered their price target on Hess from $160.00 to $145.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, September 5th. Finally, Wolfe Research raised Hess from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $150.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Monday, September 30th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Hess presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $163.30.

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.