Hess Co. (NYSE:HES) to Issue Quarterly Dividend of $0.50

Hess Co. (NYSE:HES) announced a quarterly dividend on Wednesday, March 5th, RTT News reports. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 17th will be given a dividend of 0.50 per share by the oil and gas producer on Monday, March 31st. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.41%.

Hess has increased its dividend payment by an average of 23.3% per year over the last three years. Hess has a dividend payout ratio of 18.4% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Research analysts expect Hess to earn $11.50 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $2.00 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 17.4%.

Hess Stock Down 0.7 %

Shares of HES stock traded down $0.96 on Wednesday, reaching $141.43. 1,966,945 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,980,857. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.72, a current ratio of 1.12 and a quick ratio of 1.13. The company has a 50-day moving average of $143.17 and a 200-day moving average of $139.79. The company has a market cap of $43.58 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.71 and a beta of 1.17. Hess has a one year low of $123.79 and a one year high of $163.98.

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

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have commented on HES. Wells Fargo & Company upgraded shares of Hess from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their price target for the company from $151.00 to $193.00 in a research note on Monday, December 9th. UBS Group upped their target price on shares of Hess from $185.00 to $186.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Citigroup lifted their price target on Hess from $145.00 to $163.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, December 6th. Pickering Energy Partners raised Hess to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, January 3rd. Finally, StockNews.com assumed coverage on Hess in a research report on Sunday. They set a “hold” rating on the stock. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $170.60.

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.