Meiji Yasuda Asset Management Co Ltd. Has $2.88 Million Stock Holdings in Hess Co. (NYSE:HES)

Meiji Yasuda Asset Management Co Ltd. raised its position in Hess Co. (NYSE:HES) by 400.4% during the second quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 19,520 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock after buying an additional 15,619 shares during the quarter. Meiji Yasuda Asset Management Co Ltd.’s holdings in Hess were worth $2,880,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in HES. Treasurer of the State of North Carolina boosted its holdings in Hess by 1.0% in the fourth 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 acquiring an additional 1,210 shares during the last quarter. TD Asset Management Inc boosted its stake in shares of Hess by 14.4% in the 4th quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 100,330 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $14,464,000 after purchasing an additional 12,649 shares during the last quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC boosted its stake in shares of Hess by 136.1% in 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 last quarter. Tidal Investments LLC increased its position in shares of Hess by 59.9% in 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 buying an additional 10,053 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bank of Nova Scotia raised its stake in 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 worth $75,351,000 after buying an additional 462,953 shares during the period. 88.51% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Hess Price Performance

NYSE:HES opened at $131.39 on Thursday. Hess Co. has a 52-week low of $123.79 and a 52-week high of $167.75. The company has a market cap of $40.48 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.12 and a beta of 1.15. 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 stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $138.73 and its 200 day simple moving average is $147.17.

Hess (NYSE:HES) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 31st. The oil and gas producer reported $2.62 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.48 by $0.14. Hess had a return on equity of 27.43% and a net margin of 21.22%. The company had revenue of $3.26 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.24 billion. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 40.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.65 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Hess Co. will post 11.04 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Hess Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 30th. Investors of record on Monday, September 16th will be issued a dividend of $0.50 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, September 16th. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.52%. This is a boost from Hess’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.44. Hess’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 30.63%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts have issued reports on the company. Sanford C. Bernstein raised Hess from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and boosted their target price for the company from $166.00 to $172.00 in a research note on Wednesday, July 17th. Scotiabank decreased their price objective on Hess from $165.00 to $157.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, July 12th. UBS Group dropped their target price on shares of Hess from $192.00 to $173.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday. StockNews.com started coverage on shares of Hess in a report on Friday, June 28th. They issued a “hold” rating for the company. Finally, BMO Capital Markets lowered shares of Hess to an “overweight” rating and dropped their price objective for the stock from $175.00 to $160.00 in a report on Monday, August 19th. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $171.31.

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.