Pitcairn Co. Reduces Stock Position in Hess Co. (NYSE:HES)

Pitcairn Co. trimmed its holdings in shares of Hess Co. (NYSE:HES) by 9.7% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 5,625 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock after selling 603 shares during the period. Pitcairn Co.’s holdings in Hess were worth $859,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Pacific Capital Wealth Advisors Inc. purchased a new stake in Hess in the fourth quarter valued at $27,000. Rise Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Hess in the first quarter worth about $27,000. Cape Investment Advisory Inc. acquired a new stake in Hess during the fourth quarter worth about $32,000. Riverview Trust Co purchased a new position in Hess during the first quarter valued at approximately $36,000. Finally, Mather Group LLC. acquired a new position in Hess in the first quarter valued at approximately $52,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 88.51% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on HES shares. Mizuho raised their price objective on shares of Hess from $205.00 to $210.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, May 13th. Citigroup upped their price objective on shares of Hess from $145.00 to $160.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 5th. Piper Sandler increased their target price on shares of Hess from $172.00 to $173.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 18th. StockNews.com assumed coverage on Hess in a research note on Friday, June 28th. They issued a “hold” rating for the company. Finally, Wolfe Research began coverage on Hess in a research report on Thursday, July 18th. They set a “peer perform” rating on the stock. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $178.58.

Hess Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:HES traded up $2.84 during midday trading on Thursday, hitting $149.85. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 1,223,476 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,386,155. The company has a market cap of $46.17 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.95 and a beta of 1.16. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.81, a quick ratio of 1.10 and a current ratio of 1.23. Hess Co. has a 12-month low of $131.61 and a 12-month high of $167.75. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $149.12 and its 200 day simple moving average is $149.34.

Hess (NYSE:HES) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The oil and gas producer reported $3.16 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.73 by $1.43. Hess had a return on equity of 22.73% and a net margin of 17.41%. The business had revenue of $3.34 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.98 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $1.13 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 36.2% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts forecast that Hess Co. will post 10.98 EPS for the current year.

Hess Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 14th were issued a dividend of $0.4375 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, June 14th. This represents a $1.75 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.17%. Hess’s dividend payout ratio is presently 26.80%.

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.