Wedmont Private Capital Buys 222 Shares of Hess Co. (NYSE:HES)

Wedmont Private Capital lifted its stake in shares of Hess Co. (NYSE:HES) by 6.0% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 3,906 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock after purchasing an additional 222 shares during the quarter. Wedmont Private Capital’s holdings in Hess were worth $556,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the stock. American Century Companies Inc. increased its holdings in Hess by 23.8% in the 2nd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 271,351 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $40,030,000 after buying an additional 52,121 shares during the period. BOKF NA boosted its position in shares of Hess by 2,507.0% during the 2nd quarter. BOKF NA now owns 2,242 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $331,000 after acquiring an additional 2,156 shares in the last quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale increased its stake in Hess by 1.0% in the second quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale now owns 65,722 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $9,705,000 after acquiring an additional 661 shares during the last quarter. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. raised its position in Hess by 34.9% during the second quarter. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. now owns 3,668 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $541,000 after purchasing an additional 948 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Envestnet Asset Management Inc. lifted its stake in Hess by 29.6% during the second quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 140,487 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $20,725,000 after purchasing an additional 32,081 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 88.51% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on the company. Citigroup boosted their price target on Hess from $145.00 to $163.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, December 6th. BMO Capital Markets boosted their target price on Hess from $155.00 to $160.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, October 4th. StockNews.com assumed coverage on shares of Hess in a research note on Monday. They issued a “hold” rating on the stock. Susquehanna lifted their price target on shares of Hess from $149.00 to $154.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, October 18th. Finally, UBS Group increased their price objective on shares of Hess from $173.00 to $185.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 3rd. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $170.50.

Hess Price Performance

HES stock opened at $146.59 on Wednesday. The company has a market capitalization of $45.17 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.09 and a beta of 1.18. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $140.21 and a 200-day moving average price of $139.41. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.75, a quick ratio of 1.13 and a current ratio of 1.26. Hess Co. has a 52-week low of $123.79 and a 52-week high of $163.98.

Hess (NYSE:HES) last announced 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 for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.96 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.64 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 12.7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts expect that Hess Co. will post 9.74 EPS for the current year.

Hess Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 31st. Investors of record on Monday, December 16th were issued a $0.50 dividend. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.36%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, December 16th. Hess’s payout ratio is presently 23.31%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Hess

In other Hess 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 transaction of $851,460.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 27,581 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,914,019.71. This trade represents a 17.87 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO John B. Hess sold 92,894 shares of Hess stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $147.80, for a total value of $13,729,733.20. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 229,465 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $33,914,927. This trade represents a 28.82 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 314,370 shares of company stock valued at $45,856,309. 9.76% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.