Hess Co. (NYSE:HES) to Issue $0.50 Quarterly Dividend

Hess Co. (NYSE:HES) declared a quarterly dividend on Wednesday, March 5th, RTT News reports. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 17th will be given a dividend of 0.50 per share by the oil and gas producer on Monday, March 31st. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.35%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 17th.

Hess has increased its dividend payment by an average of 23.3% annually over the last three years. Hess has a dividend payout ratio of 18.5% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities analysts expect Hess to earn $11.50 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $2.00 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 17.4%.

Hess Stock Up 3.0 %

Shares of HES stock opened at $148.21 on Friday. Hess has a 12 month low of $123.79 and a 12 month high of $163.98. The stock has a market cap of $45.69 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.47 and a beta of 1.21. The company has a current ratio of 1.12, a quick ratio of 1.13 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.72. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $145.18 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $140.19.

Hess (NYSE:HES) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The oil and gas producer reported $1.76 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.44 by $0.32. Hess had a net margin of 21.27% and a return on equity of 26.32%. On average, research analysts expect that Hess will post 8.08 earnings per share for the current year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

HES has been the subject of a number of research reports. Pickering Energy Partners raised shares of Hess to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, January 3rd. StockNews.com assumed coverage on shares of Hess in a report on Monday, March 10th. They set a “hold” rating for the company. Citigroup increased their price objective on shares of Hess from $145.00 to $163.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, December 6th. UBS Group increased their price objective on shares of Hess from $185.00 to $186.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company raised shares of Hess from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $151.00 to $193.00 in a research note on Monday, December 9th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $170.60.

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.