Grantham Mayo Van Otterloo & Co. LLC Acquires 22,546 Shares of Hess Co. (NYSE:HES)

Grantham Mayo Van Otterloo & Co. LLC grew its stake in Hess Co. (NYSE:HES) by 5.9% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 407,618 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock after purchasing an additional 22,546 shares during the period. Grantham Mayo Van Otterloo & Co. LLC’s holdings in Hess were worth $54,217,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC acquired a new stake in Hess in the 4th quarter valued at $3,117,000. Manning & Napier Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Hess in the 4th quarter valued at $2,274,000. Czech National Bank grew its holdings in shares of Hess by 6.4% in the 4th quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 59,927 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $7,971,000 after purchasing an additional 3,625 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its position in shares of Hess by 4.7% during the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,838,079 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $244,483,000 after purchasing an additional 82,703 shares in the last quarter. Finally, CIBC Asset Management Inc increased its position in shares of Hess by 4.5% during the 4th quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc now owns 43,085 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $5,731,000 after purchasing an additional 1,861 shares in the last quarter. 88.51% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have weighed in on HES shares. Citigroup upped their price objective 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. StockNews.com initiated coverage on Hess in a research report on Thursday. They set a “hold” rating on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company upgraded Hess from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $151.00 to $193.00 in a research report on Monday, December 9th. Pickering Energy Partners raised Hess to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, January 3rd. Finally, UBS Group raised their target price on Hess from $185.00 to $186.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $170.60.

Hess Trading Down 9.8 %

Shares of HES opened at $133.89 on Friday. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $148.37 and its 200-day simple moving average is $142.66. The company has a quick ratio of 1.13, a current ratio of 1.12 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.72. The firm has a market capitalization of $41.28 billion, a PE ratio of 14.88 and a beta of 0.88. Hess Co. has a 12-month low of $123.79 and a 12-month high of $163.98.

Hess (NYSE:HES) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The oil and gas producer reported $1.76 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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, research analysts predict that Hess Co. will post 8.08 earnings per share for the current year.

Hess Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 31st. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 17th were paid a $0.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 17th. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.49%. Hess’s payout ratio is presently 22.22%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Hess news, CEO John B. Hess sold 175,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $159.30, for a total transaction of $27,877,500.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 2,384,679 shares in the company, valued at approximately $379,879,364.70. This trade represents a 6.84 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Company insiders own 9.76% 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.