National Pension Service Lowers Position in Hess Co. (NYSE:HES)

National Pension Service decreased its position in Hess Co. (NYSE:HES – Get Rating) by 4.8% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 373,222 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock after selling 18,714 shares during the period. National Pension Service’s holdings in Hess were worth $40,733,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Glenmede Trust Co. NA purchased a new stake in shares of Hess in the third quarter valued at about $243,000. Kentucky Retirement Systems Insurance Trust Fund boosted its holdings in shares of Hess by 5.5% in the third quarter. Kentucky Retirement Systems Insurance Trust Fund now owns 9,986 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $1,088,000 after acquiring an additional 521 shares in the last quarter. Kentucky Retirement Systems boosted its holdings in shares of Hess by 6.1% in the third quarter. Kentucky Retirement Systems now owns 21,812 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $2,377,000 after acquiring an additional 1,252 shares in the last quarter. Drive Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Hess in the third quarter valued at about $681,000. Finally, Fayez Sarofim & Co boosted its holdings in shares of Hess by 2.9% in the third quarter. Fayez Sarofim & Co now owns 4,276,887 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $466,138,000 after acquiring an additional 121,766 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 86.06% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, SVP Andrew P. Slentz sold 5,701 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $139.46, for a total value of $795,061.46. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 39,264 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,475,757.44. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. In related news, SVP Andrew P. Slentz sold 5,701 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $139.46, for a total transaction of $795,061.46. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 39,264 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,475,757.44. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO John B. Hess sold 109,649 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $144.81, for a total transaction of $15,878,271.69. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 898,752 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $130,148,277.12. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 227,720 shares of company stock valued at $32,305,936 over the last 90 days. Insiders own 9.93% of the company’s stock.

Hess Stock Performance

NYSE:HES opened at $120.79 on Friday. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $142.37 and a 200-day simple moving average of $135.75. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.00, a current ratio of 1.64 and a quick ratio of 1.55. The firm has a market cap of $36.98 billion, a PE ratio of 16.80 and a beta of 1.55. Hess Co. has a 1-year low of $90.34 and a 1-year high of $160.52.

Hess (NYSE:HES – Get Rating) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 25th. The oil and gas producer reported $1.78 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.69 by $0.09. The business had revenue of $3.05 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.83 billion. Hess had a net margin of 19.21% and a return on equity of 27.97%. The company’s revenue was up 35.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.85 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts expect that Hess Co. will post 6.96 EPS for the current year.

Hess Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 30th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 13th will be given a $0.438 dividend. This represents a $1.75 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.45%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 10th. This is a positive change from Hess’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.38. Hess’s payout ratio is currently 24.34%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts recently commented on the stock. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on shares of Hess from $123.00 to $130.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, January 19th. The Goldman Sachs Group downgraded shares of Hess from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $161.00 to $170.00 in a report on Friday, January 27th. StockNews.com assumed coverage on shares of Hess in a report on Thursday. They set a “hold” rating on the stock. Wolfe Research raised shares of Hess from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $181.00 price objective on the stock in a report on Thursday, January 12th. Finally, Mizuho boosted their price objective on shares of Hess from $163.00 to $170.00 in a report on Friday, March 10th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Hess has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $165.00.

Hess Company Profile

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Hess Corp is an exploration and production company, which engages in exploration, development, production, transportation, purchase & sale of crude oil, natural gas liquids and natural gas with production operations. It operates through the following segments: Exploration and Production and Midstream.