Hess (NYSE:HES) Earns Hold Rating from Analysts at StockNews.com

StockNews.com assumed coverage on shares of Hess (NYSE:HES) in a research note issued to investors on Tuesday morning. The brokerage issued a hold rating on the oil and gas producer’s stock.

A number of other research analysts have also recently issued reports on HES. Wells Fargo & Company raised Hess from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their target price for the company from $151.00 to $193.00 in a research note on Monday, December 9th. Scotiabank boosted their price target on Hess from $157.00 to $167.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 10th. Susquehanna raised their target price on shares of Hess from $149.00 to $154.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, October 18th. Citigroup lifted their price objective on shares of Hess from $145.00 to $163.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, December 6th. Finally, Wolfe Research raised Hess from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $150.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Monday, September 30th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Hess currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $170.50.

Hess Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE HES opened at $144.80 on Tuesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $44.62 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.88 and a beta of 1.18. 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 business has a fifty day simple moving average of $141.05 and a 200 day simple moving average of $139.51. Hess has a one year low of $123.79 and a one year high of $163.98.

Hess (NYSE:HES) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 30th. The oil and gas producer reported $2.14 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.88 by $0.26. Hess had a return on equity of 27.41% and a net margin of 20.58%. The company had revenue of $3.20 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.96 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $1.64 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 12.7% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts expect that Hess will post 9.49 EPS for the current year.

Hess Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 31st. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 16th were paid a $0.50 dividend. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.38%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, December 16th. Hess’s dividend payout ratio is presently 23.31%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Hess

In related news, SVP Geurt G. Schoonman sold 6,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, November 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $141.91, for a total value of $851,460.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 27,581 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,914,019.71. This represents a 17.87 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CEO John B. Hess sold 90,476 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, November 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $142.47, for a total transaction of $12,890,115.72. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 223,147 shares in the company, valued at $31,791,753.09. This represents a 28.85 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 314,370 shares of company stock valued at $45,856,309 in the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 9.76% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Hess

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in HES. HBK Investments L P raised its position in Hess by 16.7% in the third quarter. HBK Investments L P now owns 7,117,820 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $966,600,000 after acquiring an additional 1,017,720 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Hess by 1.1% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 6,537,162 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $884,709,000 after purchasing an additional 74,085 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its holdings in Hess by 58.9% during the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 3,753,126 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $509,675,000 after buying an additional 1,391,311 shares in the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA grew its holdings in shares of Hess by 31.0% in the third quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 3,318,822 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $450,696,000 after purchasing an additional 785,270 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Legal & General Group Plc grew its stake in shares of Hess by 6.6% in the 2nd quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 2,451,807 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $361,691,000 after buying an additional 150,945 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 88.51% of the company’s stock.

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.