StockNews.com Begins Coverage on Hess (NYSE:HES)

Investment analysts at StockNews.com began coverage on shares of Hess (NYSE:HES) in a research report issued on Friday. The brokerage set a “hold” rating on the oil and gas producer’s stock.

HES has been the topic of a number of other research reports. Piper Sandler lowered their price objective on Hess from $173.00 to $167.00 in a report on Friday, September 13th. BMO Capital Markets increased their price objective on Hess from $155.00 to $160.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, October 4th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their target price on Hess from $171.00 to $151.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, September 27th. Sanford C. Bernstein raised Hess from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and raised their target price for the company from $166.00 to $172.00 in a report on Wednesday, July 17th. Finally, Citigroup lowered their target price on Hess from $160.00 to $145.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, September 5th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $164.00.

Hess Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE HES opened at $138.02 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.78, a quick ratio of 1.14 and a current ratio of 1.27. The firm has a market cap of $42.53 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.14 and a beta of 1.15. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $135.45 and its 200-day simple moving average is $144.76. Hess has a 52 week low of $123.79 and a 52 week high of $163.98.

Hess (NYSE:HES) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 31st. The oil and gas producer reported $2.62 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.48 by $0.14. The business had revenue of $3.26 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.24 billion. Hess had a return on equity of 27.43% and a net margin of 21.22%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 40.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.65 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Hess will post 10.22 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Trading of Hess

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Hess by 0.9% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 32,126,526 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $4,903,793,000 after acquiring an additional 294,146 shares during the period. Primecap Management Co. CA lifted its position in shares of Hess by 4.4% in the 2nd quarter. Primecap Management Co. CA now owns 8,098,012 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $1,194,619,000 after acquiring an additional 340,490 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its position in shares of Hess by 34.5% in the 2nd quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 2,835,486 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $418,291,000 after acquiring an additional 726,631 shares during the period. Legal & General Group Plc lifted its position in shares of Hess by 6.6% in the 2nd quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 2,451,807 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $361,691,000 after acquiring an additional 150,945 shares during the period. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its position in shares of Hess by 11.2% in the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,798,788 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $265,359,000 after acquiring an additional 181,459 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 88.51% of the company’s stock.

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.