Commerce Bank Acquires 250 Shares of Hess Co. (NYSE:HES)

Commerce Bank raised its holdings in Hess Co. (NYSE:HES) by 1.6% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 16,044 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock after buying an additional 250 shares during the period. Commerce Bank’s holdings in Hess were worth $2,179,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Gamco Investors INC. ET AL lifted its holdings in Hess by 3.6% during the 1st quarter. Gamco Investors INC. ET AL now owns 21,243 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $3,243,000 after purchasing an additional 746 shares during the last quarter. Earnest Partners LLC lifted its stake in shares of Hess by 10.2% during the 1st quarter. Earnest Partners LLC now owns 112,331 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $17,146,000 after buying an additional 10,352 shares during the last quarter. Paloma Partners Management Co acquired a new stake in shares of Hess during the 1st quarter worth about $325,000. Caxton Associates LP boosted its holdings in shares of Hess by 8.6% during the 1st quarter. Caxton Associates LP now owns 220,032 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $33,586,000 after buying an additional 17,505 shares during the period. Finally, Blackstone Inc. acquired a new position in Hess in the 1st quarter valued at about $829,000. 88.51% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity at Hess

In related news, CEO John B. Hess sold 125,000 shares of Hess stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $147.08, for a total transaction of $18,385,000.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 217,894 shares in the company, valued at $32,047,849.52. This trade represents a 36.45 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, SVP Geurt G. Schoonman sold 6,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 314,370 shares of company stock valued at $45,856,309 in the last 90 days. 9.76% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have issued reports on HES. StockNews.com started coverage on shares of Hess in a research report on Monday, November 18th. They set a “hold” rating for the company. Scotiabank boosted their price target on Hess from $157.00 to $167.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 10th. BMO Capital Markets upped 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 dropped their target price on Hess from $171.00 to $151.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, September 27th. Finally, Susquehanna upped their price target on shares of Hess from $149.00 to $154.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, October 18th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $163.30.

Hess Stock Up 0.5 %

Shares of HES opened at $148.65 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. Hess Co. has a one year low of $123.79 and a one year high of $163.98. The company has a market cap of $45.80 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.33 and a beta of 1.15. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $138.79 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $142.58.

Hess (NYSE:HES) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The oil and gas producer reported $2.14 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.88 by $0.26. Hess had a return on equity of 27.41% and a net margin of 20.58%. The firm had revenue of $3.20 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.96 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $1.64 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 12.7% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts forecast that Hess Co. will post 9.72 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Hess Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 30th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 16th were issued a dividend of $0.50 per share. 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 dividend yield of 1.35%. Hess’s dividend payout ratio is 23.31%.

Hess Company Profile

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.