OLD National Bancorp IN Acquires New Stake in Hess Co. (NYSE:HES)

OLD National Bancorp IN acquired a new stake in shares of Hess Co. (NYSE:HES) during the first quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm acquired 1,259 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock, valued at approximately $201,000.

A number of other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in HES. J.Safra Asset Management Corp acquired a new position in Hess in the fourth quarter worth approximately $25,000. Sierra Ocean LLC acquired a new position in Hess in the fourth quarter worth approximately $27,000. Millstone Evans Group LLC acquired a new position in Hess in the fourth quarter worth approximately $33,000. Rialto Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in Hess in the fourth quarter worth approximately $37,000. Finally, Zions Bancorporation N.A. grew its position in Hess by 225.6% in the fourth quarter. Zions Bancorporation N.A. now owns 293 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $39,000 after buying an additional 203 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 88.51% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have issued reports on HES. Susquehanna decreased their price target on shares of Hess from $160.00 to $136.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, April 22nd. UBS Group decreased their price target on shares of Hess from $170.00 to $163.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 16th. Mizuho decreased their price target on shares of Hess from $193.00 to $191.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, May 13th. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Hess to a “sell” rating in a research report on Friday, June 6th. Finally, Piper Sandler decreased their price objective on shares of Hess from $151.00 to $147.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, May 13th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $162.16.

Insider Buying and Selling at Hess

In other Hess news, CEO John B. Hess sold 175,000 shares of Hess stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $159.30, for a total transaction of $27,877,500.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 2,384,679 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $379,879,364.70. This trade represents a 6.84% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Insiders sold 650,000 shares of company stock valued at $91,845,500 in the last quarter. Company insiders own 9.10% of the company’s stock.

Hess Trading Up 1.5%

Hess stock opened at $138.67 on Wednesday. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $131.87 and a 200 day moving average price of $140.22. Hess Co. has a 52 week low of $123.79 and a 52 week high of $161.69. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.72, a quick ratio of 1.13 and a current ratio of 1.12. The firm has a market capitalization of $42.89 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.41 and a beta of 0.62.

Hess (NYSE:HES) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 30th. The oil and gas producer reported $1.81 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.95 by ($0.14). The firm had revenue of $2.92 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.95 billion. Hess had a return on equity of 26.32% and a net margin of 21.27%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 12.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $3.16 EPS. Research analysts forecast that Hess Co. will post 8.08 EPS for the current year.

Hess Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 30th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 16th will be paid a dividend of $0.50 per share. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.44%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 16th. Hess’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 27.66%.

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.