Hess Co. (NYSE:HES) Shares Acquired by DnB Asset Management AS

DnB Asset Management AS boosted its stake in Hess Co. (NYSE:HES) by 5.5% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 57,826 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock after acquiring an additional 3,031 shares during the period. DnB Asset Management AS’s holdings in Hess were worth $7,691,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. denkapparat Operations GmbH purchased a new stake in shares of Hess in the fourth quarter valued at about $246,000. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA boosted its holdings in shares of Hess by 9.8% in the 4th quarter. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA now owns 105,336 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $14,011,000 after purchasing an additional 9,364 shares during the last quarter. New Age Alpha Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Hess during the fourth quarter valued at about $3,171,000. NEOS Investment Management LLC increased its position in Hess by 30.8% during the 4th quarter. NEOS Investment Management LLC now owns 15,853 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $2,109,000 after purchasing an additional 3,732 shares in the last quarter. Finally, UniSuper Management Pty Ltd raised its stake in shares of Hess by 21.8% in the 4th quarter. UniSuper Management Pty Ltd now owns 24,121 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $3,208,000 after acquiring an additional 4,323 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 88.51% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on HES. StockNews.com began coverage on Hess in a research report on Wednesday, March 26th. They set a “hold” rating on the stock. Citigroup boosted their price objective on shares of Hess from $145.00 to $163.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, December 6th. Pickering Energy Partners raised shares of Hess to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, January 3rd. UBS Group increased their price objective on Hess from $185.00 to $186.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company raised shares of Hess from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and raised their target price for the company from $151.00 to $193.00 in a research note on Monday, December 9th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $170.60.

Hess Trading Down 0.4 %

HES stock opened at $158.48 on Monday. The business has a fifty day moving average of $147.78 and a 200-day moving average of $142.00. The company has a quick ratio of 1.13, a current ratio of 1.12 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.72. The company has a market cap of $48.86 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.61 and a beta of 1.21. Hess Co. has a twelve month low of $123.79 and a twelve month high of $163.98.

Hess (NYSE:HES) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The oil and gas producer reported $1.76 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.44 by $0.32. Hess had a return on equity of 26.32% and a net margin of 21.27%. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Hess Co. will post 8.08 EPS for the current year.

Hess Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 17th will be paid a dividend of $0.50 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 17th. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.26%. Hess’s dividend payout ratio is currently 22.22%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Hess

In other Hess news, CEO John B. Hess sold 175,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $159.30, for a total transaction of $27,877,500.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 2,384,679 shares in the company, valued at $379,879,364.70. This represents a 6.84 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 9.76% 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.