Public Sector Pension Investment Board Has $6.54 Million Holdings in Hess Co. (NYSE:HES)

Public Sector Pension Investment Board trimmed its position in Hess Co. (NYSE:HES) by 30.3% in the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 48,161 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock after selling 20,900 shares during the quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board’s holdings in Hess were worth $6,540,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Primecap Management Co. CA raised its stake in shares of Hess by 4.4% in the 2nd quarter. Primecap Management Co. CA now owns 8,098,012 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $1,194,619,000 after buying an additional 340,490 shares in the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA increased its stake in Hess by 31.0% in the third quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 3,318,822 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $450,696,000 after acquiring an additional 785,270 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its stake in 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 purchasing an additional 726,631 shares during the period. Legal & General Group Plc lifted its stake in 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 purchasing an additional 150,945 shares during the period. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted 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 valued at $265,359,000 after purchasing an additional 181,459 shares in the last quarter. 88.51% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts recently commented on the company. UBS Group cut their target price on Hess from $192.00 to $173.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, September 18th. StockNews.com assumed coverage on Hess in a report on Tuesday, November 26th. They set a “hold” rating for the company. Mizuho lowered their target price on shares of Hess from $210.00 to $194.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, September 16th. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price target on shares of Hess from $155.00 to $160.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, October 4th. Finally, Wolfe Research raised shares of Hess from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $150.00 price objective on the stock in a research note on Monday, September 30th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $163.30.

Hess Price Performance

Shares of HES stock opened at $147.18 on Friday. Hess Co. has a 1 year low of $123.79 and a 1 year high of $163.98. 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 firm’s 50 day moving average is $140.25 and its 200-day moving average is $142.14. The firm has a market capitalization of $45.35 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.15 and a beta of 1.15.

Hess (NYSE:HES) last posted 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 firm had revenue of $3.20 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.96 billion. Hess had a return on equity of 27.41% and a net margin of 20.58%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 12.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.64 EPS. Sell-side analysts forecast that Hess Co. will post 9.74 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Hess Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 30th. Investors of record on Monday, September 16th were given a $0.50 dividend. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.36%. This is a positive change from Hess’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.44. The ex-dividend date was Monday, September 16th. Hess’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 23.31%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO John B. Hess sold 125,000 shares of Hess stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $147.08, for a total transaction of $18,385,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 217,894 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $32,047,849.52. The trade was a 36.45 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, SVP Geurt G. Schoonman sold 6,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 27,581 shares in the company, valued at $3,914,019.71. The trade was a 17.87 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 314,370 shares of company stock valued at $45,856,309. 9.76% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.