True North Advisors LLC Invests $216,000 in Hess Co. (NYSE:HES)

True North Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Hess Co. (NYSE:HES) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund purchased 1,625 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock, valued at approximately $216,000.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in HES. HBK Investments L P grew its position in Hess by 16.7% in the third quarter. HBK Investments L P now owns 7,117,820 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $966,600,000 after acquiring an additional 1,017,720 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in Hess by 1.1% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 6,537,162 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $884,709,000 after purchasing an additional 74,085 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its position in Hess by 58.9% during the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 3,753,126 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $509,675,000 after buying an additional 1,391,311 shares during the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA raised its holdings in Hess by 31.0% during the third quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 3,318,822 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $450,696,000 after buying an additional 785,270 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Legal & General Group Plc lifted its position in shares of Hess by 6.6% in the second quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 2,451,807 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $361,691,000 after buying an additional 150,945 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 88.51% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

HES has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company raised Hess from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and raised their price objective for the company from $151.00 to $193.00 in a research note on Monday, December 9th. UBS Group lifted their price target on shares of Hess from $173.00 to $185.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 3rd. Scotiabank upped their price objective 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. StockNews.com began coverage on shares of Hess in a report on Tuesday. They issued a “hold” rating on the stock. Finally, Pickering Energy Partners raised shares of Hess to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, January 3rd. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $170.50.

Insider Buying and Selling at Hess

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

Hess Stock Performance

NYSE:HES opened at $144.80 on Friday. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $141.05 and its 200-day moving average is $139.51. The company has a market cap of $44.62 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.88 and a beta of 1.18. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.75, a quick ratio of 1.13 and a current ratio of 1.26. Hess Co. has a 52-week low of $123.79 and a 52-week high of $163.98.

Hess (NYSE:HES) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The oil and gas producer reported $2.14 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.88 by $0.26. Hess had a return on equity of 27.41% and a net margin of 20.58%. The firm 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 company posted $1.64 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 12.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts anticipate that Hess Co. will post 9.49 earnings per share for the current year.

Hess Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 31st. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 16th were paid a dividend of $0.50 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, December 16th. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.38%. Hess’s dividend payout ratio is currently 23.31%.

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.