Hess Co. (NYSE:HES) Shares Sold by Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp

Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp cut its holdings in shares of Hess Co. (NYSE:HES) by 1.5% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 128,531 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock after selling 1,925 shares during the period. Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp’s holdings in Hess were worth $17,096,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in HES. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Hess by 0.9% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 33,141,244 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $4,408,117,000 after purchasing an additional 296,406 shares during the last quarter. HBK Investments L P increased its holdings in shares of Hess by 16.7% in the third 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 purchasing an additional 1,017,720 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Hess by 1.1% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 6,537,162 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $884,709,000 after purchasing an additional 74,085 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its holdings in shares of Hess by 58.9% during the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 3,753,126 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $509,675,000 after purchasing an additional 1,391,311 shares during the period. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp boosted its position in Hess by 46.3% in the fourth quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 2,930,509 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $389,787,000 after buying an additional 927,093 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 88.51% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Hess

In other news, CEO John B. Hess sold 175,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $159.30, for a total value of $27,877,500.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,384,679 shares in the company, valued at $379,879,364.70. This represents a 6.84 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Insiders own 9.76% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

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

Hess Trading Down 0.4 %

Shares of HES stock opened at $158.48 on Friday. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $147.78 and a 200-day simple moving average of $141.79. Hess Co. has a 1-year low of $123.79 and a 1-year high of $163.98. The company has a market cap of $48.86 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.61 and a beta of 1.21. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.72, a current ratio of 1.12 and a quick ratio of 1.13.

Hess (NYSE:HES) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 29th. The oil and gas producer reported $1.76 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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%. On average, equities research analysts expect that Hess Co. will post 8.08 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Hess Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 17th will be paid a dividend of $0.50 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 17th. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.26%. Hess’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 22.22%.

Hess Company 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.