Covestor Ltd Has $36,000 Stake in Hess Co. (NYSE:HES)

Covestor Ltd lifted its position in shares of Hess Co. (NYSE:HES) by 59.8% in the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 262 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock after purchasing an additional 98 shares during the quarter. Covestor Ltd’s holdings in Hess were worth $36,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted 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 buying an additional 294,146 shares during the period. Primecap Management Co. CA boosted its position in shares of Hess by 4.4% during the second quarter. Primecap Management Co. CA now owns 8,098,012 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $1,194,619,000 after buying 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 boosted its position 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 during the period. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its holdings in Hess by 11.2% during the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,798,788 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $265,359,000 after acquiring an additional 181,459 shares in the last quarter. 88.51% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

HES has been the topic of several analyst reports. BMO Capital Markets upped their target price on Hess from $155.00 to $160.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, October 4th. 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. Mizuho dropped their target price on Hess from $210.00 to $194.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, September 16th. Susquehanna upped their target price on Hess from $149.00 to $154.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, October 18th. Finally, UBS Group dropped their price objective on Hess from $192.00 to $173.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, September 18th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Hess presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $163.30.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related 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 owns 223,147 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $31,791,753.09. This represents a 28.85 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. 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 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 represents a 17.87 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 9.76% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Hess Price Performance

Shares of NYSE HES opened at $145.64 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $44.87 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.02 and a beta of 1.15. The company has a current ratio of 1.26, a quick ratio of 1.13 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.75. Hess Co. has a 1-year low of $123.79 and a 1-year high of $163.98. The business’s 50 day moving average is $136.42 and its 200-day moving average is $143.19.

Hess (NYSE:HES) last announced 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 company 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%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 12.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.64 earnings per share. Equities research analysts predict that Hess Co. will post 9.76 earnings per share for the current year.

Hess Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 30th. Investors of record on Monday, September 16th were given a dividend of $0.50 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 16th. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.37%. This is an increase from Hess’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.44. Hess’s dividend payout ratio is currently 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.