Insider Selling: Hess Co. (NYSE:HES) SVP Sells 6,000 Shares of Stock

Hess Co. (NYSE:HES) SVP Geurt G. Schoonman sold 6,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, November 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $141.91, for a total transaction of $851,460.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 27,581 shares in the company, 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 Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link.

Hess Stock Up 1.6 %

Shares of HES opened at $145.10 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 has a market cap of $44.71 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.91 and a beta of 1.15. Hess Co. has a 52 week low of $123.79 and a 52 week high of $163.98. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $136.09 and its 200 day simple moving average is $143.18.

Hess (NYSE:HES) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 30th. The oil and gas producer reported $2.14 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.88 by $0.26. Hess had a net margin of 20.58% and a return on equity of 27.41%. The firm had revenue of $3.20 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.96 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.64 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 12.7% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts forecast that Hess Co. will post 9.76 earnings per share for the current year.

Hess Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 30th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 16th were issued a dividend of $0.50 per share. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.38%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, September 16th. This is an increase from Hess’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.44. Hess’s dividend payout ratio is 23.31%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms recently weighed in on HES. Citigroup reduced their target price on shares of Hess from $160.00 to $145.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, September 5th. Mizuho dropped their price objective on shares of Hess from $210.00 to $194.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Monday, September 16th. Scotiabank raised 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. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price target on shares of Hess from $171.00 to $151.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, September 27th. Finally, 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. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $163.30.

Institutional Trading of Hess

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in HES. Point72 Asia Singapore Pte. Ltd. bought a new position in Hess in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $1,425,000. FSA Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in Hess in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $37,000. Slotnik Capital LLC lifted its stake in Hess by 13.3% in the 3rd quarter. Slotnik Capital LLC now owns 156,400 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $21,239,000 after purchasing an additional 18,400 shares during the last quarter. Maverick Capital Ltd. bought a new position in Hess in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $1,052,000. Finally, Point72 Europe London LLP bought a new position in Hess in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $3,042,000. Institutional investors own 88.51% of the company’s stock.

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.