Hess (NYSE:HES) Price Target Raised to $163.00

Hess (NYSE:HES) had its price objective hoisted by Citigroup from $145.00 to $163.00 in a report released on Friday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a “neutral” rating on the oil and gas producer’s stock. Citigroup’s price target indicates a potential upside of 15.17% from the stock’s current price.

A number of other equities research analysts have also weighed in on HES. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price target on shares of Hess from $171.00 to $151.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, September 27th. Scotiabank raised their target price on Hess from $157.00 to $167.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 10th. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price target on Hess from $155.00 to $160.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, October 4th. Mizuho lowered their price objective on Hess from $210.00 to $194.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, September 16th. Finally, StockNews.com started coverage on Hess in a research report on Wednesday. They issued a “hold” rating on the stock. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $166.30.

Hess Trading Down 2.2 %

Shares of HES opened at $141.53 on Friday. Hess has a twelve month low of $123.79 and a twelve month high of $163.98. The firm has a market capitalization of $43.61 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.50 and a beta of 1.17. The company has a current ratio of 1.26, a quick ratio of 1.13 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.75. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $141.39 and its 200 day simple moving average is $141.74.

Hess (NYSE:HES) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 30th. The oil and gas producer reported $2.14 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.88 by $0.26. The company had revenue of $3.20 billion during 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%. Hess’s revenue for the quarter was up 12.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.64 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Hess will post 9.74 earnings per share for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO John B. Hess sold 90,476 shares of the 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 sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 223,147 shares in the company, valued at approximately $31,791,753.09. This represents a 28.85 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, SVP Geurt G. Schoonman sold 6,000 shares of the firm’s 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 completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 27,581 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,914,019.71. This trade represents a 17.87 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 314,370 shares of company stock valued at $45,856,309. Company insiders own 9.76% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Hess

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Sanctuary Advisors LLC bought a new position in Hess in the 2nd quarter worth about $6,054,000. Cetera Investment Advisers grew its holdings in Hess by 424.8% in the 1st quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 19,466 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $2,971,000 after buying an additional 15,757 shares in the last quarter. Calamos Advisors LLC increased its position in 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 acquiring an additional 15,684 shares during the period. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. raised its stake in Hess by 255.1% during the 2nd quarter. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. now owns 6,836 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $1,008,000 after acquiring an additional 4,911 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Mizuho Securities USA LLC boosted its position in Hess by 295.5% during the 3rd quarter. Mizuho Securities USA LLC now owns 84,277 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $11,445,000 after acquiring an additional 62,966 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 88.51% of the company’s stock.

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.