Sierra Summit Advisors LLC Trims Stock Position in Hess Co. (NYSE:HES)

Sierra Summit Advisors LLC trimmed its stake in Hess Co. (NYSE:HES) by 61.4% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 2,201 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock after selling 3,494 shares during the period. Sierra Summit Advisors LLC’s holdings in Hess were worth $293,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Checchi Capital Advisers LLC grew its stake in Hess by 3.5% in the fourth quarter. Checchi Capital Advisers LLC now owns 2,154 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $287,000 after purchasing an additional 72 shares during the period. Avantax Advisory Services Inc. grew its position in shares of Hess by 1.9% in the 4th quarter. Avantax Advisory Services Inc. now owns 3,971 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $528,000 after buying an additional 73 shares during the period. Moss Adams Wealth Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of Hess by 5.3% in the 4th quarter. Moss Adams Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,682 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $224,000 after buying an additional 85 shares during the period. Howard Capital Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of Hess by 5.2% in the 4th quarter. Howard Capital Management Inc. now owns 1,809 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $241,000 after acquiring an additional 90 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Parkside Financial Bank & Trust lifted its position in Hess by 18.0% during the 4th quarter. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust now owns 629 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $84,000 after acquiring an additional 96 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 88.51% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Hess news, CEO John B. Hess sold 175,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $159.30, for a total value of $27,877,500.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,384,679 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $379,879,364.70. This trade represents a 6.84 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 9.76% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Hess Trading Down 2.4 %

Shares of NYSE:HES opened at $130.35 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.72, a current ratio of 1.12 and a quick ratio of 1.13. Hess Co. has a 1 year low of $123.79 and a 1 year high of $163.98. The company has a market cap of $40.19 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.48 and a beta of 0.88. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $148.05 and its 200-day moving average price is $142.80.

Hess (NYSE:HES) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The oil and gas producer reported $1.76 earnings per share for the quarter, topping 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%. Sell-side analysts expect that Hess Co. will post 8.08 earnings per share for the current year.

Hess Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 31st. Investors of record on Monday, March 17th were given a dividend of $0.50 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 17th. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.53%. Hess’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 22.22%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on HES shares. StockNews.com began coverage on shares of Hess in a research note on Thursday, April 3rd. They set a “hold” rating for the company. Wells Fargo & Company raised Hess from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and raised their price objective for the company from $151.00 to $193.00 in a research report on Monday, December 9th. Pickering Energy Partners upgraded Hess to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, January 3rd. Finally, UBS Group increased their target price on Hess from $185.00 to $186.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Six research 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, Hess presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $170.60.

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.