SG Americas Securities LLC Increases Position in Hess Co. (NYSE:HES)

SG Americas Securities LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Hess Co. (NYSE:HES) by 441.8% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 54,831 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock after buying an additional 44,710 shares during the period. SG Americas Securities LLC’s holdings in Hess were worth $7,293,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in HES. Groupama Asset Managment raised its position in Hess by 22.7% during the third quarter. Groupama Asset Managment now owns 22,606 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $31,000 after acquiring an additional 4,186 shares during the period. Covestor Ltd grew its position in shares of Hess by 59.8% in the third 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 during the period. FSA Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Hess during the third quarter worth about $37,000. Eastern Bank acquired a new position in shares of Hess during the 3rd quarter worth about $48,000. Finally, LRI Investments LLC lifted its stake in Hess by 157.2% in the 3rd quarter. LRI Investments LLC now owns 355 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $51,000 after buying an additional 217 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 88.51% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on HES. Scotiabank lifted their price target on Hess from $157.00 to $167.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 10th. Wolfe Research raised shares of Hess from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $150.00 target price for the company in a report on Monday, September 30th. Susquehanna raised their price target on shares of Hess from $149.00 to $154.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, October 18th. Pickering Energy Partners raised shares of Hess to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, January 3rd. Finally, UBS Group raised their target price on shares of Hess from $173.00 to $185.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 3rd. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $170.50.

Hess Trading Down 0.4 %

HES opened at $144.32 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $44.47 billion, a PE ratio of 16.82 and a beta of 1.18. Hess Co. has a one year low of $123.79 and a one year high of $163.98. 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 business’s 50 day moving average price is $141.05 and its 200 day moving average price is $139.54.

Hess (NYSE:HES) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The oil and gas producer reported $2.14 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.88 by $0.26. The business had revenue of $3.20 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.96 billion. Hess had a return on equity of 27.41% and a net margin of 20.58%. The company’s revenue was up 12.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.64 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Hess Co. will post 9.51 EPS for the current year.

Hess Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 31st. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 16th were paid a $0.50 dividend. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.39%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 16th. Hess’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 23.31%.

Insider Transactions at Hess

In other Hess news, CEO John B. Hess sold 90,476 shares of Hess stock in a transaction dated Thursday, November 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $142.47, for a total value of $12,890,115.72. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 223,147 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $31,791,753.09. The trade was a 28.85 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, SVP Geurt G. Schoonman sold 6,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, November 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $141.91, for a total transaction of $851,460.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 27,581 shares in the company, valued at $3,914,019.71. This represents a 17.87 % decrease in their position. 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. 9.76% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.