Hess Co. (NYSE:HES) CEO Sells $27,877,500.00 in Stock

Hess Co. (NYSE:HES) CEO John B. Hess sold 175,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $159.30, for a total value of $27,877,500.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,384,679 shares in the company, valued at approximately $379,879,364.70. This represents a 6.84 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link.

Hess Trading Down 0.4 %

Shares of HES opened at $158.48 on Friday. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $147.78 and its 200-day simple moving average is $141.79. The firm has a market capitalization of $48.86 billion, a PE ratio of 17.61 and a beta of 1.21. Hess Co. has a 12-month low of $123.79 and a 12-month high of $163.98. The company has a quick ratio of 1.13, a current ratio of 1.12 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.72.

Hess (NYSE:HES) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The oil and gas producer reported $1.76 earnings per share (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%. As a group, research analysts predict that Hess Co. will post 8.08 earnings per share for the current year.

Hess Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 17th will be given a dividend of $0.50 per share. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.26%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 17th. Hess’s payout ratio is 22.22%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in HES. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its holdings in Hess by 58.9% in the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 3,753,126 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $509,675,000 after purchasing an additional 1,391,311 shares during the last quarter. HBK Investments L P increased its stake in shares of Hess by 16.7% in the 3rd quarter. HBK Investments L P now owns 7,117,820 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $966,600,000 after acquiring an additional 1,017,720 shares during the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its position in shares of Hess by 46.3% in the 4th quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 2,930,509 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $389,787,000 after acquiring an additional 927,093 shares during the period. Symmetry Investments LP boosted its stake in Hess by 154.1% during the 4th quarter. Symmetry Investments LP now owns 1,381,076 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $183,697,000 after acquiring an additional 837,662 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Adage Capital Partners GP L.L.C. grew its holdings in Hess by 6.5% during the fourth quarter. Adage Capital Partners GP L.L.C. now owns 11,438,985 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $1,521,499,000 after purchasing an additional 698,866 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 88.51% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on HES shares. Wells Fargo & Company upgraded shares of Hess from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their target price for the company from $151.00 to $193.00 in a research note on Monday, December 9th. Pickering Energy Partners upgraded shares of Hess to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, January 3rd. UBS Group raised their price objective on shares of Hess from $185.00 to $186.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Citigroup boosted their target price on Hess from $145.00 to $163.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, December 6th. Finally, StockNews.com started coverage on Hess in a report on Wednesday. They set a “hold” rating for the company. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Hess currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price 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.