PNC Financial Services Group Inc. Decreases Stock Position in Hess Co. (NYSE:HES)

PNC Financial Services Group Inc. decreased its position in shares of Hess Co. (NYSE:HES) by 2.0% during the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 71,836 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock after selling 1,446 shares during the period. PNC Financial Services Group Inc.’s holdings in Hess were worth $9,755,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. B. Metzler seel. Sohn & Co. Holding AG bought a new position in shares of Hess during the third quarter valued at approximately $2,577,000. Cassaday & Co Wealth Management LLC grew its position in Hess by 2.4% in the 3rd quarter. Cassaday & Co Wealth Management LLC now owns 3,266 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $444,000 after acquiring an additional 78 shares during the last quarter. LMR Partners LLP increased its stake in Hess by 13.8% in the third quarter. LMR Partners LLP now owns 253,589 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $34,437,000 after purchasing an additional 30,675 shares during the period. Swiss National Bank lifted its position in shares of Hess by 0.5% during the third quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 823,000 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $111,763,000 after purchasing an additional 4,500 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Thrivent Financial for Lutherans boosted its stake in shares of Hess by 19.1% during the third quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 16,369 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $2,224,000 after purchasing an additional 2,630 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 88.51% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

HES has been the subject of several research reports. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price objective on shares of Hess from $171.00 to $151.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, September 27th. Piper Sandler dropped their price objective on Hess from $173.00 to $167.00 in a research note on Friday, September 13th. UBS Group decreased their target price on Hess from $192.00 to $173.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, September 18th. Scotiabank increased their price target on Hess from $157.00 to $167.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 10th. Finally, Wolfe Research upgraded Hess from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $150.00 price objective for the company in a report on Monday, September 30th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Hess currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $163.30.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, SVP Geurt G. Schoonman sold 6,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, November 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $141.91, for a total value of $851,460.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 27,581 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,914,019.71. This represents a 17.87 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. 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 92,894 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 in the company, valued at approximately $33,914,927. This represents a 28.82 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 314,370 shares of company stock worth $45,856,309 in the last 90 days. Insiders own 9.76% of the company’s stock.

Hess Stock Performance

Shares of HES opened at $148.65 on Friday. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $138.79 and a 200-day moving average price of $142.69. Hess Co. has a 12 month low of $123.79 and a 12 month high of $163.98. The firm has a market cap of $45.80 billion, a PE ratio of 17.33 and a beta of 1.15. The company has a current ratio of 1.26, a quick ratio of 1.13 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.75.

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

Hess Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 30th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 16th were paid a dividend of $0.50 per share. This is an increase from Hess’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.44. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.35%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, September 16th. Hess’s payout ratio is presently 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.