1834 Investment Advisors Co. Cuts Position in Hess Co. (NYSE:HES)

1834 Investment Advisors Co. cut its stake in Hess Co. (NYSE:HES) by 24.3% during the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 5,475 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock after selling 1,755 shares during the quarter. 1834 Investment Advisors Co.’s holdings in Hess were worth $744,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. QRG Capital Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of Hess by 16.2% in the 3rd quarter. QRG Capital Management Inc. now owns 1,915 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $260,000 after purchasing an additional 267 shares in the last quarter. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. boosted its position in shares of Hess by 2.6% in the 3rd quarter. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. now owns 103,478 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $14,052,000 after purchasing an additional 2,598 shares in the last quarter. National Pension Service boosted its position in shares of Hess by 11.7% in the 3rd quarter. National Pension Service now owns 536,382 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $72,841,000 after purchasing an additional 56,392 shares in the last quarter. Cannon Global Investment Management LLC acquired a new stake in Hess during the 3rd quarter worth about $2,716,000. Finally, Janney Montgomery Scott LLC lifted its position in Hess by 134.6% during the 3rd quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC now owns 6,143 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $834,000 after acquiring an additional 3,524 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 88.51% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have commented on HES. UBS Group lowered their price target on Hess from $192.00 to $173.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, September 18th. Citigroup reduced their price objective on Hess from $160.00 to $145.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, September 5th. Mizuho cut their price target on Hess from $210.00 to $194.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, September 16th. Scotiabank boosted their price target on shares of Hess from $157.00 to $167.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a report on Thursday, October 10th. Finally, Wolfe Research raised shares of Hess from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $150.00 price target on the stock in a research note on Monday, September 30th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $164.00.

Hess Stock Performance

Shares of HES stock opened at $142.57 on Thursday. Hess Co. has a one year low of $123.79 and a one year high of $163.98. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.75, a quick ratio of 1.14 and a current ratio of 1.26. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $135.48 and its 200-day moving average price is $143.78. The firm has a market cap of $43.93 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.62 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, beating 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 company’s quarterly revenue was up 12.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.64 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Hess Co. will post 9.74 EPS for the current year.

Hess Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 30th. Investors of record on Monday, September 16th were paid a dividend of $0.50 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 16th. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.40%. This is an increase from Hess’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.44. Hess’s payout ratio is presently 23.31%.

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.