4,168 Shares in Hess Co. (NYSE:HES) Purchased by US Asset Management LLC

US Asset Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Hess Co. (NYSE:HES) during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund acquired 4,168 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock, valued at approximately $601,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Spire Wealth Management boosted its holdings in Hess by 30.7% during the 3rd quarter. Spire Wealth Management now owns 319 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $49,000 after acquiring an additional 75 shares during the period. CHICAGO TRUST Co NA boosted its stake in shares of Hess by 2.0% during the third quarter. CHICAGO TRUST Co NA now owns 4,420 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $676,000 after purchasing an additional 87 shares during the period. Loomis Sayles & Co. L P grew its holdings in shares of Hess by 33.7% in the third quarter. Loomis Sayles & Co. L P now owns 385 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $59,000 after purchasing an additional 97 shares during the last quarter. Quent Capital LLC increased its stake in shares of Hess by 13.7% in the fourth quarter. Quent Capital LLC now owns 872 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $126,000 after buying an additional 105 shares during the period. Finally, Venturi Wealth Management LLC raised its holdings in Hess by 21.3% during the 3rd quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC now owns 610 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $93,000 after buying an additional 107 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 88.51% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on the company. Piper Sandler boosted their price target on Hess from $172.00 to $173.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, April 18th. StockNews.com began coverage on shares of Hess in a research report on Friday, May 3rd. They set a “sell” rating on the stock. Mizuho raised their target price on shares of Hess from $200.00 to $205.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 20th. Finally, Susquehanna boosted their price target on shares of Hess from $156.00 to $164.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, April 22nd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $177.42.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Hess news, CEO John B. Hess sold 73,885 shares of the stock in a transaction 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 sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 138,718 shares in the company, valued at approximately $20,234,794.66. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. In related news, SVP Andrew P. Slentz sold 1,062 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $144.52, for a total transaction of $153,480.24. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 50,215 shares in the company, valued at $7,257,071.80. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO John B. Hess sold 73,885 shares of the firm’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 sale, the chief executive officer now owns 138,718 shares in the company, valued at approximately $20,234,794.66. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 155,798 shares of company stock worth $22,811,166 in the last three months. Insiders own 9.76% of the company’s stock.

Hess Stock Down 0.2 %

Shares of HES stock traded down $0.32 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $159.63. 650,083 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,617,056. The company has a quick ratio of 0.96, a current ratio of 1.23 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.81. The stock has a market cap of $49.18 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.49 and a beta of 1.24. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $153.12 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $147.07. Hess Co. has a 12-month low of $124.27 and a 12-month high of $167.75.

Hess (NYSE:HES) last released its earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The oil and gas producer reported $3.16 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.73 by $1.43. Hess had a return on equity of 22.73% and a net margin of 17.41%. The business had revenue of $3.34 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.98 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.13 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 36.2% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts expect that Hess Co. will post 9.17 EPS for the current year.

Hess Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 28th. Investors of record on Monday, March 18th were given a dividend of $0.4375 per share. This represents a $1.75 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.10%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 15th. Hess’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 26.80%.

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.