BNP Paribas Financial Markets Acquires 4,287 Shares of Hess Co. (NYSE:HES)

BNP Paribas Financial Markets grew its holdings in shares of Hess Co. (NYSE:HES) by 1.1% during the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 397,926 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock after purchasing an additional 4,287 shares during the quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets owned about 0.13% of Hess worth $54,038,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Covestor Ltd raised its holdings in shares of Hess by 59.8% during the 3rd quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 262 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $36,000 after purchasing an additional 98 shares in the last quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Hess by 47.6% during the 1st quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 273 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $43,000 after purchasing an additional 88 shares in the last quarter. Eastern Bank bought a new position in Hess in the 3rd quarter worth $48,000. Coastline Trust Co bought a new position in Hess in the 3rd quarter worth $55,000. Finally, Rothschild Investment LLC bought a new position in Hess in the 2nd quarter worth $60,000. Institutional investors own 88.51% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages recently commented on HES. Wolfe Research upgraded shares of Hess from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $150.00 target price on the stock in a report on Monday, September 30th. BMO Capital Markets lifted their target price on shares of Hess from $155.00 to $160.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, October 4th. Scotiabank lifted their target price on shares of Hess from $157.00 to $167.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a report on Thursday, October 10th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their target price on shares of Hess from $171.00 to $151.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, September 27th. Finally, Citigroup dropped their price objective on shares of Hess from $160.00 to $145.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, September 5th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $163.30.

Insider Activity

In other Hess news, CEO John B. Hess sold 90,476 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, November 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $142.47, for a total value of $12,890,115.72. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 223,147 shares in the company, valued at $31,791,753.09. The trade was a 28.85 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, SVP Geurt G. Schoonman sold 6,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, November 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $141.91, for a total transaction of $851,460.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 27,581 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,914,019.71. This trade represents a 17.87 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 314,370 shares of company stock worth $45,856,309. Corporate insiders own 9.76% of the company’s stock.

Hess Price Performance

Shares of Hess stock opened at $146.76 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.75, a quick ratio of 1.13 and a current ratio of 1.26. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $140.00 and its 200-day simple moving average is $142.34. Hess Co. has a twelve month low of $123.79 and a twelve month high of $163.98. The firm has a market cap of $45.22 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.10 and a beta of 1.15.

Hess (NYSE:HES) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The oil and gas producer reported $2.14 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.88 by $0.26. Hess had a net margin of 20.58% and a return on equity of 27.41%. The business had revenue of $3.20 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.96 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.64 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 12.7% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts expect that Hess Co. will post 9.72 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Hess Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 30th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 16th were given a dividend of $0.50 per share. This is a positive change from Hess’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.44. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.36%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, September 16th. Hess’s payout ratio is 23.31%.

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.