HM Payson & Co. Purchases 620 Shares of Hess Co. (NYSE:HES)

HM Payson & Co. boosted its position in shares of Hess Co. (NYSE:HES) by 27.4% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 2,881 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock after purchasing an additional 620 shares during the quarter. HM Payson & Co.’s holdings in Hess were worth $383,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Farther Finance Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Hess by 12.5% in the 3rd quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 1,064 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $144,000 after buying an additional 118 shares in the last quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC grew its stake in Hess by 134.6% in the third quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC now owns 6,143 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $834,000 after acquiring an additional 3,524 shares during the period. QRG Capital Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Hess by 16.2% in the third quarter. QRG Capital Management Inc. now owns 1,915 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $260,000 after acquiring an additional 267 shares in the last quarter. Concurrent Investment Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Hess by 9.8% in the third quarter. Concurrent Investment Advisors LLC now owns 2,026 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $275,000 after acquiring an additional 180 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Hess by 3.4% during the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 326,921 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $44,396,000 after purchasing an additional 10,738 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 88.51% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on HES shares. StockNews.com initiated coverage on Hess in a research report on Monday. They issued a “hold” rating for the company. Pickering Energy Partners upgraded shares of Hess to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, January 3rd. UBS Group raised their price objective 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 boosted their price objective on shares of Hess from $145.00 to $163.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, December 6th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upgraded Hess from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and increased their target price for the stock from $151.00 to $193.00 in a report on Monday, December 9th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $170.60.

Hess Trading Up 3.1 %

Hess stock opened at $147.73 on Monday. The company has a market cap of $45.55 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.41 and a beta of 1.21. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $143.99 and a 200-day moving average of $139.94. 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 Co. has a one year low of $123.79 and a one year high of $163.98.

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

Hess Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 17th will be issued a $0.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 17th. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.35%. Hess’s payout ratio is 22.22%.

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.