381 Shares in Hess Co. (NYSE:HES) Acquired by Transamerica Financial Advisors Inc.

Transamerica Financial Advisors Inc. bought a new position in shares of Hess Co. (NYSE:HES) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund bought 381 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock, valued at approximately $51,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in HES. J.Safra Asset Management Corp bought a new stake in shares of Hess during the 4th quarter valued at $25,000. Sierra Ocean LLC bought a new stake in Hess in the fourth quarter valued at about $27,000. Groupama Asset Managment lifted its stake in Hess by 22.7% in the third quarter. Groupama Asset Managment now owns 22,606 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $31,000 after buying an additional 4,186 shares during the period. Millstone Evans Group LLC bought a new position in Hess during the fourth quarter worth about $33,000. Finally, FSA Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Hess during the 3rd quarter worth about $37,000. 88.51% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Citigroup lifted 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 lifted their price target on shares of Hess from $185.00 to $186.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Wells Fargo & Company upgraded shares of Hess from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and upped their price objective for the company from $151.00 to $193.00 in a research report on Monday, December 9th. StockNews.com initiated coverage on Hess in a report on Wednesday, March 26th. They set a “hold” rating on the stock. Finally, Pickering Energy Partners upgraded Hess to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, January 3rd. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Hess presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $170.60.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Hess news, CEO John B. Hess sold 175,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $159.30, for a total transaction of $27,877,500.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 2,384,679 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $379,879,364.70. The trade was a 6.84 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Insiders own 9.76% of the company’s stock.

Hess Stock Down 0.4 %

NYSE:HES opened at $158.48 on Monday. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $147.78 and a 200 day simple moving average of $142.00. Hess Co. has a 52-week low of $123.79 and a 52-week high of $163.98. The company has a market cap of $48.86 billion, a PE ratio of 17.61 and a beta of 1.21. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.72, a quick ratio of 1.13 and a current ratio of 1.12.

Hess (NYSE:HES) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The oil and gas producer reported $1.76 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.44 by $0.32. Hess had a net margin of 21.27% and a return on equity of 26.32%. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Hess Co. will post 8.08 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Hess Dividend Announcement

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

Hess 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.