FIL Ltd Has $49,000 Holdings in Hess Co. (NYSE:HES)

FIL Ltd lessened its position in Hess Co. (NYSE:HES) by 90.4% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 371 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock after selling 3,512 shares during the quarter. FIL Ltd’s holdings in Hess were worth $49,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of HES. Checchi Capital Advisers LLC lifted its position in shares of Hess by 3.5% during the 4th quarter. Checchi Capital Advisers LLC now owns 2,154 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $287,000 after purchasing an additional 72 shares during the last quarter. Avantax Advisory Services Inc. grew its stake in shares of Hess by 1.9% in the fourth quarter. Avantax Advisory Services Inc. now owns 3,971 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $528,000 after acquiring an additional 73 shares during the last quarter. Moss Adams Wealth Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Hess by 5.3% in the fourth quarter. Moss Adams Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,682 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $224,000 after acquiring an additional 85 shares during the last quarter. Howard Capital Management Inc. raised its stake in Hess by 5.2% during the 4th quarter. Howard Capital Management Inc. now owns 1,809 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $241,000 after purchasing an additional 90 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Parkside Financial Bank & Trust boosted its holdings in Hess by 18.0% in the 4th quarter. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust now owns 629 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $84,000 after purchasing an additional 96 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 88.51% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have recently commented on HES shares. Scotiabank cut their price objective on shares of Hess from $164.00 to $146.58 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday. StockNews.com initiated coverage on Hess in a research report on Friday. They issued a “hold” rating for the company. UBS Group boosted their price objective on Hess from $185.00 to $186.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Finally, Pickering Energy Partners raised Hess to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, January 3rd. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Hess presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $168.56.

Insider Activity at Hess

In other news, CEO John B. Hess sold 175,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on 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 completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 2,384,679 shares in the company, valued at $379,879,364.70. The trade was a 6.84 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. 9.76% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Hess Stock Down 0.5 %

HES opened at $127.80 on Tuesday. Hess Co. has a twelve month low of $123.79 and a twelve month high of $163.98. The firm has a market cap of $39.40 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.20 and a beta of 0.88. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $146.37 and its 200-day simple moving average is $142.59. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.72, a quick ratio of 1.13 and a current ratio of 1.12.

Hess (NYSE:HES) last posted 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%. Equities research analysts anticipate that Hess Co. will post 8.08 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Hess Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 31st. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 17th were paid a $0.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 17th. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.56%. Hess’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 22.22%.

Hess 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.