Hess Co. (NYSE:HES) Stock Position Reduced by Financial Counselors Inc.

Financial Counselors Inc. lowered its stake in shares of Hess Co. (NYSE:HES) by 1.5% in the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 14,828 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock after selling 222 shares during the period. Financial Counselors Inc.’s holdings in Hess were worth $2,014,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Covestor Ltd boosted its position in Hess by 59.8% during the third quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 262 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $36,000 after purchasing an additional 98 shares during the last quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Hess by 47.6% during the 1st quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 273 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $43,000 after buying an additional 88 shares during the last quarter. Eastern Bank bought a new stake in shares of Hess in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $48,000. Coastline Trust Co acquired a new position in Hess in the third quarter worth approximately $55,000. Finally, Rothschild Investment LLC bought a new position in Hess during the second quarter valued at approximately $60,000. 88.51% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have commented on HES shares. Piper Sandler decreased their target price on shares of Hess from $173.00 to $167.00 in a research report on Friday, September 13th. 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 research report on Monday, September 16th. Citigroup decreased their price target on Hess from $160.00 to $145.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, September 5th. Scotiabank raised their price objective on Hess from $157.00 to $167.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 10th. Finally, UBS Group reduced their target price on Hess from $192.00 to $173.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, September 18th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Hess has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $163.30.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Hess news, CEO John B. Hess sold 90,476 shares of Hess stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, November 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $142.47, for a total transaction of $12,890,115.72. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 223,147 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $31,791,753.09. The trade was a 28.85 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, SVP Geurt G. Schoonman sold 6,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, November 7th. The stock was 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 of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,914,019.71. The trade was a 17.87 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 314,370 shares of company stock worth $45,856,309 over the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 9.76% of the company’s stock.

Hess Stock Performance

NYSE HES opened at $147.06 on Friday. The company’s fifty day moving average is $140.25 and its two-hundred day moving average is $142.25. The firm has a market capitalization of $45.31 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.14 and a beta of 1.15. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.75, a current ratio of 1.26 and a quick ratio of 1.13. Hess Co. has a 52-week low of $123.79 and a 52-week high of $163.98.

Hess (NYSE:HES) last issued its quarterly earnings results 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. Hess had a return on equity of 27.41% and a net margin of 20.58%. The firm had revenue of $3.20 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.96 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.64 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 12.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts forecast 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 given a $0.50 dividend. This is a boost from Hess’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.44. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.36%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 16th. Hess’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 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.