Hess Co. (NYSE:HES) Receives $170.50 Average Target Price from Analysts

Hess Co. (NYSE:HES) has been assigned a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” from the eleven analysts that are currently covering the stock, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company. The average 1 year price objective among brokers that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $170.50.

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on HES. Pickering Energy Partners upgraded shares of Hess to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, January 3rd. Citigroup lifted their price target 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. Wells Fargo & Company upgraded shares of Hess from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and lifted their price target for the stock from $151.00 to $193.00 in a research note on Monday, December 9th. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price target on shares of Hess from $155.00 to $160.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, October 4th. Finally, StockNews.com initiated coverage on shares of Hess in a research note on Tuesday, January 21st. They issued a “hold” rating for the company.

Hess Price Performance

Shares of HES opened at $146.09 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.75, a current ratio of 1.26 and a quick ratio of 1.13. The stock has a market cap of $45.01 billion, a PE ratio of 17.03 and a beta of 1.18. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $141.02 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $139.43. Hess has a 1-year low of $123.79 and a 1-year high of $163.98.

Hess (NYSE:HES) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 30th. The oil and gas producer reported $2.14 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.88 by $0.26. The firm had revenue of $3.20 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.96 billion. Hess had a net margin of 20.58% and a return on equity of 27.41%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 12.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $1.64 earnings per share. As a group, analysts forecast that Hess will post 9.51 EPS for the current year.

Hess Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 31st. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 16th were given a dividend of $0.50 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, December 16th. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.37%. Hess’s dividend payout ratio is presently 23.31%.

Insider Transactions at Hess

In related news, CEO John B. Hess sold 90,476 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, November 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $142.47, for a total value of $12,890,115.72. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 223,147 shares in the company, valued at $31,791,753.09. This represents a 28.85 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, SVP Geurt G. Schoonman sold 6,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, November 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $141.91, for a total transaction of $851,460.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 27,581 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,914,019.71. This trade represents a 17.87 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 314,370 shares of company stock worth $45,856,309. 9.76% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Hess

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. HBK Investments L P increased its stake in Hess by 16.7% in the 3rd quarter. HBK Investments L P now owns 7,117,820 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $966,600,000 after buying an additional 1,017,720 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in Hess by 1.1% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 6,537,162 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $884,709,000 after buying an additional 74,085 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its stake in Hess by 58.9% in the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 3,753,126 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $509,675,000 after buying an additional 1,391,311 shares during the period. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA increased its stake in Hess by 31.0% in the 3rd 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 buying an additional 785,270 shares during the period. Finally, Legal & General Group Plc increased its stake in Hess by 6.6% in the 2nd quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 2,451,807 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $361,691,000 after buying an additional 150,945 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 88.51% of the company’s stock.

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.