Pinnacle Associates Ltd. Buys 136 Shares of Hess Co. (NYSE:HES)

Pinnacle Associates Ltd. raised its stake in Hess Co. (NYSE:HES) by 2.6% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 5,456 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock after buying an additional 136 shares during the quarter. Pinnacle Associates Ltd.’s holdings in Hess were worth $787,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Sanctuary Advisors LLC bought a new position in Hess during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $6,054,000. Tidal Investments LLC boosted its position in shares of Hess by 59.9% during the first quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 26,823 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $4,087,000 after purchasing an additional 10,053 shares in the last quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers grew its holdings in shares of Hess by 424.8% in the 1st quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 19,466 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $2,971,000 after buying an additional 15,757 shares during the period. Calamos Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Hess by 2.7% in the 2nd quarter. Calamos Advisors LLC now owns 590,326 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $87,085,000 after buying an additional 15,684 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. raised its stake in Hess by 24.2% during the 1st quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 66,362 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $10,129,000 after buying an additional 12,915 shares during the period. 88.51% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have recently commented on HES. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price target on Hess from $171.00 to $151.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, September 27th. Citigroup lowered their price objective on shares of Hess from $160.00 to $145.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, September 5th. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price objective on shares of Hess from $155.00 to $160.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, October 4th. Mizuho lowered their target price on Hess from $210.00 to $194.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Monday, September 16th. Finally, Wolfe Research raised Hess from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $150.00 price target on the stock in a research note on Monday, September 30th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $164.00.

Hess Stock Up 2.4 %

HES stock opened at $137.75 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $42.44 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.05 and a beta of 1.15. Hess Co. has a twelve month low of $123.79 and a twelve month high of $163.98. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $135.31 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $144.03. The company has a quick ratio of 1.14, a current ratio of 1.26 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.75.

Hess (NYSE:HES) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The oil and gas producer reported $2.14 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.88 by $0.26. The business had revenue of $3.20 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.96 billion. Hess had a net margin of 20.58% and a return on equity of 27.41%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 12.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.64 earnings per share. Analysts anticipate that Hess Co. will post 9.74 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Hess Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 30th. Investors of record on Monday, September 16th were paid a $0.50 dividend. This is an increase from Hess’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.44. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.45%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, September 16th. Hess’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 23.31%.

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.