CX Institutional Has $273,000 Stock Holdings in Hess Co. (NYSE:HES)

CX Institutional decreased its position in Hess Co. (NYSE:HES) by 5.3% in the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 2,007 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock after selling 113 shares during the period. CX Institutional’s holdings in Hess were worth $273,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Hess by 0.9% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 32,126,526 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $4,903,793,000 after acquiring an additional 294,146 shares in the last quarter. Primecap Management Co. CA raised its stake in shares of Hess by 4.4% in the 2nd quarter. Primecap Management Co. CA now owns 8,098,012 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $1,194,619,000 after purchasing an additional 340,490 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp boosted its position in shares of Hess by 34.5% during the second quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 2,835,486 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $418,291,000 after buying an additional 726,631 shares during the period. Legal & General Group Plc grew its holdings in shares of Hess by 6.6% during the second 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. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its position in Hess by 11.2% in the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,798,788 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $265,359,000 after buying an additional 181,459 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 88.51% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on the company. Sanford C. Bernstein raised Hess from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and upped their price target for the stock from $166.00 to $172.00 in a research report on Wednesday, July 17th. Mizuho decreased their target price on shares of Hess from $210.00 to $194.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, September 16th. StockNews.com assumed coverage on shares of Hess in a research report on Thursday. They set a “hold” rating on the stock. Susquehanna decreased their price objective on Hess from $151.00 to $149.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, September 4th. Finally, Scotiabank upped their target price on Hess from $157.00 to $167.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a report on Thursday, October 10th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Hess currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $166.00.

Hess Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE HES opened at $139.41 on Friday. Hess Co. has a 12 month low of $123.79 and a 12 month high of $167.75. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $135.01 and a 200-day moving average of $145.48. The company has a current ratio of 1.27, a quick ratio of 1.14 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.78. The company has a market capitalization of $42.95 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.35 and a beta of 1.15.

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. The firm had revenue of $3.26 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.24 billion. Hess had a net margin of 21.22% and a return on equity of 27.43%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 40.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.65 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Hess Co. will post 10.22 EPS for the current year.

Hess Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 30th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 16th were issued a dividend of $0.50 per share. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.43%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 16th. This is a boost from Hess’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.44. Hess’s payout ratio is currently 30.63%.

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.