Hess Co. (NYSE:HES) Given Average Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by Analysts

Hess Co. (NYSE:HES) has been given an average rating of “Moderate Buy” by the ten brokerages that are currently covering the company, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating on the company. The average 1 year price target among analysts that have covered the stock in the last year is $163.30.

HES has been the topic of several research reports. Sanford C. Bernstein raised Hess from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $166.00 to $172.00 in a report on Wednesday, July 17th. Piper Sandler lowered their price target on Hess from $173.00 to $167.00 in a report on Friday, September 13th. 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 report on Monday, September 30th. Susquehanna raised their price target on Hess from $149.00 to $154.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, October 18th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets raised their price target on Hess from $155.00 to $160.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, October 4th.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO John B. Hess sold 90,476 shares of Hess stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, November 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $142.47, for a total transaction of $12,890,115.72. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 223,147 shares in the company, valued at approximately $31,791,753.09. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. In related news, CEO John B. Hess sold 90,476 shares of Hess stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, November 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $142.47, for a total transaction of $12,890,115.72. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 223,147 shares in the company, valued at $31,791,753.09. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, SVP Geurt G. Schoonman sold 6,000 shares of Hess stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, November 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $141.91, for a total value of $851,460.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 27,581 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,914,019.71. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 9.76% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Hess

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Hess by 0.9% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 32,126,526 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $4,903,793,000 after buying an additional 294,146 shares during the period. Primecap Management Co. CA grew its stake in shares of Hess by 4.4% during 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 buying an additional 340,490 shares during the period. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA grew its stake in shares of Hess by 31.0% during the 3rd quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 3,318,822 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $450,696,000 after buying an additional 785,270 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp grew its stake in shares of Hess by 34.5% during the 2nd quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 2,835,486 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $418,291,000 after buying an additional 726,631 shares during the period. Finally, Legal & General Group Plc grew its stake in shares of Hess by 6.6% during the 2nd quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 2,451,807 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $361,691,000 after buying an additional 150,945 shares during the period. 88.51% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Hess Stock Performance

NYSE:HES opened at $142.82 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $44.01 billion, a PE ratio of 16.71 and a beta of 1.15. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $135.86 and its 200 day moving average price is $143.18. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.75, a current ratio of 1.26 and a quick ratio of 1.13. Hess has a 12 month low of $123.79 and a 12 month high of $163.98.

Hess (NYSE:HES) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The oil and gas producer reported $2.14 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.88 by $0.26. The firm had revenue of $3.20 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.96 billion. Hess had a return on equity of 27.41% and a net margin of 20.58%. Hess’s revenue for the quarter was up 12.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $1.64 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Hess will post 9.76 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Hess Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 30th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 16th were given a dividend of $0.50 per share. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.40%. This is an increase from Hess’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.44. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 16th. Hess’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 23.31%.

About Hess

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.