American Century Companies Inc. Grows Stock Position in Hess Co. (NYSE:HES)

American Century Companies Inc. raised its holdings in Hess Co. (NYSE:HES) by 14.7% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 333,056 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock after acquiring an additional 42,797 shares during the period. American Century Companies Inc.’s holdings in Hess were worth $44,300,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC purchased a new stake in Hess in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $3,117,000. Manning & Napier Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Hess in the 4th quarter valued at $2,274,000. Czech National Bank grew its stake in shares of Hess by 6.4% during the 4th quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 59,927 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $7,971,000 after buying an additional 3,625 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of Hess by 4.7% during the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,838,079 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $244,483,000 after buying an additional 82,703 shares during the period. Finally, CIBC Asset Management Inc increased its holdings in shares of Hess by 4.5% during the 4th quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc now owns 43,085 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $5,731,000 after buying an additional 1,861 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 88.51% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on HES shares. Wells Fargo & Company raised Hess from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their price target for the company from $151.00 to $193.00 in a research report on Monday, December 9th. StockNews.com began coverage on Hess in a report on Wednesday. They set a “hold” rating for the company. Citigroup raised their price target on shares of Hess from $145.00 to $163.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, December 6th. UBS Group boosted 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, Pickering Energy Partners raised shares of Hess to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, January 3rd. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $170.60.

Hess Stock Down 0.9 %

Shares of Hess stock opened at $159.10 on Friday. Hess Co. has a 1-year low of $123.79 and a 1-year high of $163.98. The company has a market capitalization of $49.05 billion, a PE ratio of 17.68 and a beta of 1.21. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.72, a current ratio of 1.12 and a quick ratio of 1.13. The business has a 50-day moving average of $147.64 and a 200-day moving average of $141.58.

Hess (NYSE:HES) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 29th. The oil and gas producer reported $1.76 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.44 by $0.32. Hess had a return on equity of 26.32% and a net margin of 21.27%. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Hess Co. will post 8.08 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Hess Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Investors of record on Monday, March 17th will be issued a $0.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 17th. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.26%. Hess’s dividend payout ratio is presently 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.