Susquehanna Raises Hess (NYSE:HES) Price Target to $164.00

Hess (NYSE:HES) had its target price upped by Susquehanna from $156.00 to $164.00 in a research note issued to investors on Monday morning, Benzinga reports. Susquehanna currently has a neutral rating on the oil and gas producer’s stock.

HES has been the subject of several other research reports. Mizuho boosted their price objective on shares of Hess from $200.00 to $205.00 and gave the company a neutral rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 20th. StockNews.com started coverage on shares of Hess in a research report on Wednesday, April 17th. They issued a sell rating on the stock. Finally, Piper Sandler raised their price objective on shares of Hess from $172.00 to $173.00 and gave the company an overweight rating in a research report on Thursday, April 18th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of Hold and an average price target of $177.42.

Hess Stock Up 1.5 %

HES opened at $161.45 on Monday. The company has a market cap of $49.74 billion, a PE ratio of 35.88 and a beta of 1.27. The company has a 50 day moving average of $151.09 and a 200 day moving average of $147.20. Hess has a 12 month low of $124.27 and a 12 month high of $167.75. The company has a current ratio of 1.05, a quick ratio of 0.96 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.88.

Hess (NYSE:HES) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 31st. The oil and gas producer reported $1.63 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.43 by $0.20. Hess had a return on equity of 17.00% and a net margin of 12.98%. The company had revenue of $3.04 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.76 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.78 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down .6% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Hess will post 8.62 EPS for the current year.

Hess Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 28th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 18th were paid a $0.4375 dividend. This represents a $1.75 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.08%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 15th. Hess’s dividend payout ratio is presently 38.89%.

Insider Activity

In other Hess news, CEO John B. Hess sold 73,885 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $145.87, for a total value of $10,777,604.95. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 138,718 shares in the company, valued at $20,234,794.66. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. In related news, CEO John B. Hess sold 73,885 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $145.87, for a total transaction of $10,777,604.95. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 138,718 shares in the company, valued at $20,234,794.66. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Timothy B. Goodell sold 2,701 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $144.52, for a total value of $390,348.52. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 162,144 shares in the company, valued at approximately $23,433,050.88. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 155,798 shares of company stock valued at $22,811,166. 9.76% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Hess

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. FMR LLC lifted its stake in shares of Hess by 2.4% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 37,239,078 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $5,697,579,000 after purchasing an additional 889,122 shares during the period. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA increased its position in shares of Hess by 4.1% during the 3rd quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 7,790,382 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $1,191,928,000 after purchasing an additional 303,942 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. boosted its stake in shares of Hess by 44.1% during the 3rd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 3,610,484 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $552,404,000 after purchasing an additional 1,105,204 shares during the period. Morgan Stanley lifted its stake in shares of Hess by 19.9% during the 3rd quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 2,951,451 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $451,572,000 after acquiring an additional 489,169 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp increased its stake in Hess by 1.5% in the 3rd quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 2,866,681 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $438,602,000 after buying an additional 42,802 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 88.51% of the company’s stock.

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.