FORA Capital LLC Buys Shares of 6,738 Hess Co. (NYSE:HES)

FORA Capital LLC purchased a new position in shares of Hess Co. (NYSE:HES) in the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm purchased 6,738 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock, valued at approximately $915,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Sanctuary Advisors LLC bought a new position in Hess in the second quarter valued at $6,054,000. Cetera Investment Advisers increased its position in shares of Hess by 424.8% in the first quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 19,466 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $2,971,000 after acquiring an additional 15,757 shares during the last quarter. Calamos Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Hess by 2.7% during the second quarter. Calamos Advisors LLC now owns 590,326 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $87,085,000 after acquiring an additional 15,684 shares in the last quarter. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. boosted its position in Hess by 255.1% during the second quarter. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. now owns 6,836 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $1,008,000 after purchasing an additional 4,911 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Swedbank AB bought a new position in Hess in the first quarter valued at approximately $36,936,000. 88.51% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity

In other news, SVP Geurt G. Schoonman sold 6,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on 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 of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,914,019.71. This trade represents 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 the SEC website. Also, CEO John B. Hess sold 92,894 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, November 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $147.80, for a total value of $13,729,733.20. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 229,465 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $33,914,927. The trade was a 28.82 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 314,370 shares of company stock valued at $45,856,309. 9.76% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

HES has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. StockNews.com initiated coverage on Hess in a report on Tuesday. They issued a “hold” rating for the company. Citigroup decreased their price objective on shares of Hess from $160.00 to $145.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, September 5th. UBS Group cut their target price on shares of Hess from $192.00 to $173.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, September 18th. Susquehanna boosted their price target on Hess from $149.00 to $154.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, October 18th. Finally, Mizuho cut their price objective on Hess from $210.00 to $194.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, September 16th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Hess has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $163.30.

Hess Stock Performance

HES opened at $146.76 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.75, a current ratio of 1.26 and a quick ratio of 1.13. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $140.00 and a 200 day simple moving average of $142.34. Hess Co. has a 1 year low of $123.79 and a 1 year high of $163.98. The company has a market capitalization of $45.22 billion, a PE ratio of 17.10 and a beta of 1.15.

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, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.88 by $0.26. Hess had a return on equity of 27.41% and a net margin of 20.58%. The business had revenue of $3.20 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.96 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $1.64 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 12.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts expect that Hess Co. will post 9.72 EPS for the current year.

Hess Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 30th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 16th were given a $0.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 16th. This is an increase from Hess’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.44. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.36%. Hess’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 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.