Royal London Asset Management Ltd. Sells 277 Shares of Hess Co. (NYSE:HES)

Royal London Asset Management Ltd. lessened its holdings in shares of Hess Co. (NYSE:HES) by 0.2% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 120,885 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock after selling 277 shares during the period. Royal London Asset Management Ltd.’s holdings in Hess were worth $16,079,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the business. Decagon Asset Management LLP bought a new stake in shares of Hess during the 4th quarter valued at $24,386,000. Birnam Oak Advisors LP bought a new stake in shares of Hess during the 4th quarter valued at $17,998,000. Nikko Asset Management Americas Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Hess by 5.6% during the 4th quarter. Nikko Asset Management Americas Inc. now owns 6,657 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $885,000 after buying an additional 352 shares in the last quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Hess by 19.5% during the 4th quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 3,058 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $407,000 after buying an additional 498 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Cibc World Markets Corp boosted its stake in Hess by 229.0% in the 4th quarter. Cibc World Markets Corp now owns 123,619 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $16,443,000 after purchasing an additional 86,042 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 88.51% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on HES. Citigroup upped their price target on shares of Hess from $145.00 to $163.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, December 6th. Wells Fargo & Company upgraded shares of Hess from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and upped their price target for the stock from $151.00 to $193.00 in a research note on Monday, December 9th. Pickering Energy Partners upgraded shares of Hess to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, January 3rd. StockNews.com began coverage on shares of Hess in a research note on Tuesday, March 18th. They issued a “hold” rating on the stock. Finally, UBS Group upped their price target on shares of Hess from $185.00 to $186.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Hess currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $170.60.

Hess Price Performance

HES opened at $156.59 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.72, a quick ratio of 1.13 and a current ratio of 1.12. The stock has a market capitalization of $48.28 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.40 and a beta of 1.21. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $146.73 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $140.83. Hess Co. has a 52-week low of $123.79 and a 52-week high of $163.98.

Hess (NYSE:HES) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 29th. The oil and gas producer reported $1.76 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.44 by $0.32. Hess had a net margin of 21.27% and a return on equity of 26.32%. As a group, analysts predict that Hess Co. will post 8.08 EPS for the current year.

Hess Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 17th will be given a dividend of $0.50 per share. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.28%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 17th. Hess’s payout ratio is 22.22%.

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.