Arizona State Retirement System Buys 810 Shares of Hess Co. (NYSE:HES)

Arizona State Retirement System boosted its stake in shares of Hess Co. (NYSE:HES) by 1.0% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 80,140 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock after purchasing an additional 810 shares during the period. Arizona State Retirement System’s holdings in Hess were worth $11,822,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Treasurer of the State of North Carolina lifted its holdings in shares of Hess by 1.0% during the 4th quarter. Treasurer of the State of North Carolina now owns 123,339 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $17,781,000 after buying an additional 1,210 shares during the period. TD Asset Management Inc boosted its position in Hess by 14.4% in the fourth quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 100,330 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $14,464,000 after purchasing an additional 12,649 shares during the last quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC grew its stake in shares of Hess by 136.1% during the 4th quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC now owns 690,526 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $99,546,000 after purchasing an additional 398,089 shares during the period. Tidal Investments LLC grew its stake in shares of Hess by 59.9% during the 1st quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 26,823 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $4,087,000 after purchasing an additional 10,053 shares during the period. Finally, Bank of Nova Scotia increased its position in shares of Hess by 774.8% during the 4th quarter. Bank of Nova Scotia now owns 522,707 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $75,351,000 after purchasing an additional 462,953 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 88.51% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages recently issued reports on HES. UBS Group cut their target price on shares of Hess from $193.00 to $192.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, August 20th. Wolfe Research began coverage on Hess in a research note on Thursday, July 18th. They issued a “peer perform” rating for the company. Sanford C. Bernstein upgraded Hess from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and lifted their target price for the company from $166.00 to $172.00 in a research report on Wednesday, July 17th. Mizuho raised their price objective on Hess from $205.00 to $210.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, May 13th. Finally, Citigroup lowered their price objective on Hess from $160.00 to $145.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Hess currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $174.46.

Hess Price Performance

HES stock opened at $126.30 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.78, a quick ratio of 1.14 and a current ratio of 1.27. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $141.80 and its 200-day moving average price is $148.24. Hess Co. has a one year low of $125.89 and a one year high of $167.75. The company has a market capitalization of $38.91 billion, a PE ratio of 19.34 and a beta of 1.15.

Hess (NYSE:HES) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 31st. The oil and gas producer reported $2.62 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.48 by $0.14. The business had revenue of $3.26 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.24 billion. Hess had a net margin of 21.22% and a return on equity of 27.43%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 40.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.65 EPS. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Hess Co. will post 11.12 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Hess Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 30th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 16th will be issued a dividend of $0.50 per share. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.58%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, September 16th. This is a boost from Hess’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.44. Hess’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 26.80%.

Hess Company 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.