Birnam Oak Advisors LP Buys New Shares in Hess Co. (NYSE:HES)

Birnam Oak Advisors LP purchased a new position in Hess Co. (NYSE:HES) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 135,310 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock, valued at approximately $17,998,000. Hess makes up 8.7% of Birnam Oak Advisors LP’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 4th largest holding.

Other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC increased its holdings in shares of Hess by 134.6% in the third quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC now owns 6,143 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $834,000 after purchasing an additional 3,524 shares in the last quarter. GSA Capital Partners LLP bought a new position in shares of Hess during the third quarter worth $496,000. CIBC Asset Management Inc boosted its position in shares of Hess by 8.2% during the third quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc now owns 41,224 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $5,598,000 after purchasing an additional 3,141 shares in the last quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Hess by 45.9% during the third quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC now owns 266,277 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $36,160,000 after purchasing an additional 83,814 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Thrivent Financial for Lutherans boosted its position in shares of Hess by 19.1% during the third quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 16,369 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $2,224,000 after purchasing an additional 2,630 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 88.51% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have recently weighed in on HES shares. Citigroup lifted their price target on shares of Hess from $145.00 to $163.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, December 6th. Wells Fargo & Company raised shares of Hess from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $151.00 to $193.00 in a research report on Monday, December 9th. Pickering Energy Partners raised shares of Hess to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, January 3rd. StockNews.com began coverage on shares of Hess in a research report on Tuesday. They issued a “hold” rating on the stock. Finally, UBS Group boosted their price objective on shares of Hess from $185.00 to $186.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $170.60.

Hess Stock Up 1.5 %

Shares of HES stock opened at $150.43 on Tuesday. The company has a current ratio of 1.12, a quick ratio of 1.13 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.72. Hess Co. has a 1 year low of $123.79 and a 1 year high of $163.98. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $145.47 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $140.32. The firm has a market capitalization of $46.38 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.71 and a beta of 1.21.

Hess (NYSE:HES) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The oil and gas producer reported $1.76 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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, equities analysts predict that Hess Co. will post 8.08 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Hess Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 17th will be paid a dividend of $0.50 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 17th. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.33%. Hess’s dividend payout ratio is presently 22.22%.

Hess Company 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.