BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp Cuts Position in Hess Co. (NYSE:HES)

BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp reduced its holdings in shares of Hess Co. (NYSE:HES) by 12.6% in the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 46,272 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock after selling 6,670 shares during the period. BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp’s holdings in Hess were worth $6,284,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Drive Wealth Management LLC boosted its position in Hess by 1.6% during the 2nd quarter. Drive Wealth Management LLC now owns 4,599 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $678,000 after purchasing an additional 72 shares during the period. Cassaday & Co Wealth Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Hess by 2.4% in the third quarter. Cassaday & Co Wealth Management LLC now owns 3,266 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $444,000 after buying an additional 78 shares during the period. UMB Bank n.a. lifted its position in Hess by 4.7% during the 2nd quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 1,771 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $261,000 after acquiring an additional 80 shares in the last quarter. HB Wealth Management LLC boosted its holdings in Hess by 0.6% in the 2nd quarter. HB Wealth Management LLC now owns 14,629 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $2,158,000 after acquiring an additional 87 shares during the period. Finally, EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC grew its position in Hess by 47.6% in the first quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 273 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $43,000 after acquiring an additional 88 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 88.51% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Hess

In related news, SVP Geurt G. Schoonman sold 6,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, November 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $141.91, for a total transaction of $851,460.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 27,581 shares in the company, valued at $3,914,019.71. This represents a 17.87 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO John B. Hess sold 92,894 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, November 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $147.80, for a total value of $13,729,733.20. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 229,465 shares in the company, valued at $33,914,927. This represents a 28.82 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 314,370 shares of company stock worth $45,856,309 over the last ninety days. Company insiders own 9.76% of the company’s stock.

Hess Price Performance

Shares of HES opened at $146.96 on Tuesday. The company has a current ratio of 1.26, a quick ratio of 1.13 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.75. The firm has a market cap of $45.28 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.13 and a beta of 1.15. Hess Co. has a 52 week low of $123.79 and a 52 week high of $163.98. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $140.49 and a 200-day moving average of $141.97.

Hess (NYSE:HES) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The oil and gas producer reported $2.14 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.88 by $0.26. Hess had a net margin of 20.58% and a return on equity of 27.41%. The firm had revenue of $3.20 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.96 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $1.64 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 12.7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts forecast that Hess Co. will post 9.74 EPS for the current year.

Hess Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 30th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 16th were issued a $0.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, September 16th. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.36%. This is a boost from Hess’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.44. Hess’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 23.31%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have recently commented on the stock. StockNews.com started coverage on shares of Hess in a research report on Tuesday, November 26th. They set a “hold” rating on the stock. BMO Capital Markets upped their price objective on shares of Hess from $155.00 to $160.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, October 4th. Mizuho dropped their target price on Hess from $210.00 to $194.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, September 16th. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price target on Hess from $171.00 to $151.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, September 27th. Finally, Piper Sandler dropped their price objective on Hess from $173.00 to $167.00 in a report on Friday, September 13th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $163.30.

Hess 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.