Captrust Financial Advisors Cuts Stock Holdings in Hess Co. (NYSE:HES)

Captrust Financial Advisors trimmed its position in shares of Hess Co. (NYSE:HES) by 18.9% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 5,745 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock after selling 1,335 shares during the period. Captrust Financial Advisors’ holdings in Hess were worth $780,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also made changes to their positions in HES. HBK Investments L P increased its stake in Hess by 16.7% during the 3rd quarter. HBK Investments L P now owns 7,117,820 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $966,600,000 after buying an additional 1,017,720 shares during the period. Boussard & Gavaudan Investment Management LLP grew its position in Hess by 38.4% in the 3rd quarter. Boussard & Gavaudan Investment Management LLP now owns 330,110 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $44,337,000 after buying an additional 91,654 shares in the last quarter. FORA Capital LLC bought a new stake in shares of Hess in the 3rd quarter worth $915,000. Glenmede Trust Co. NA grew its position in Hess by 37.9% in the third quarter. Glenmede Trust Co. NA now owns 2,474 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $336,000 after buying an additional 680 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bridgewater Associates LP raised its position in shares of Hess by 107.2% during the third quarter. Bridgewater Associates LP now owns 86,502 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $11,747,000 after purchasing an additional 44,746 shares during the period. 88.51% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

HES has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price objective on Hess from $155.00 to $160.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, October 4th. Wells Fargo & Company upgraded shares of Hess from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and upped their price target for the company from $151.00 to $193.00 in a research report on Monday. Wolfe Research upgraded shares of Hess from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $150.00 price objective on the stock in a research report on Monday, September 30th. Citigroup boosted their target price on shares of Hess from $145.00 to $163.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, December 6th. Finally, Piper Sandler lowered their price target on Hess from $173.00 to $167.00 in a report on Friday, September 13th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $170.50.

Insider Buying and Selling at Hess

In other news, CEO John B. Hess sold 92,894 shares of Hess stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $147.80, for a total transaction of $13,729,733.20. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 229,465 shares in the company, valued at approximately $33,914,927. The trade was a 28.82 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, SVP Geurt G. Schoonman sold 6,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, November 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $141.91, for a total value of $851,460.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 27,581 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,914,019.71. This represents a 17.87 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 314,370 shares of company stock worth $45,856,309 over the last quarter. 9.76% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Hess Price Performance

Shares of HES opened at $142.90 on Wednesday. The company has a 50 day moving average of $141.53 and a 200-day moving average of $141.62. The company has a quick ratio of 1.13, a current ratio of 1.26 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.75. The stock has a market capitalization of $44.03 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.65 and a beta of 1.17. Hess Co. has a twelve month low of $123.79 and a twelve month high of $163.98.

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

Hess Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 31st. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 16th will be given a dividend of $0.50 per share. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.40%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, December 16th. Hess’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 23.31%.

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.