Sagefield Capital LP Has $74.09 Million Stake in Hess Co. (NYSE:HES)

Sagefield Capital LP lifted its holdings in Hess Co. (NYSE:HES) by 23.8% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 502,242 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock after acquiring an additional 96,523 shares during the period. Hess accounts for approximately 7.8% of Sagefield Capital LP’s holdings, making the stock its biggest holding. Sagefield Capital LP’s holdings in Hess were worth $74,091,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in HES. New Covenant Trust Company N.A. bought a new position in shares of Hess in the 1st quarter valued at about $25,000. Rise Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Hess in the 1st quarter valued at about $27,000. Cape Investment Advisory Inc. bought a new position in shares of Hess in the 4th quarter valued at about $32,000. Riverview Trust Co bought a new position in shares of Hess in the 1st quarter valued at about $36,000. Finally, EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Hess by 47.6% in the 1st quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 273 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $43,000 after acquiring an additional 88 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 88.51% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages recently commented on HES. Sanford C. Bernstein raised shares of Hess from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and increased their price target for the company from $166.00 to $172.00 in a report on Wednesday, July 17th. Scotiabank decreased their price objective on shares of Hess from $165.00 to $157.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, July 12th. UBS Group decreased their price objective on shares of Hess from $192.00 to $173.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, September 18th. BMO Capital Markets downgraded shares of Hess to an “overweight” rating and decreased their price objective for the stock from $175.00 to $160.00 in a research note on Monday, August 19th. Finally, Mizuho decreased their price objective on shares of Hess from $210.00 to $194.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, September 16th. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Hess currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $171.31.

Hess Stock Performance

Hess stock opened at $135.32 on Tuesday. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $137.86 and a 200-day moving average price of $146.97. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.78, a quick ratio of 1.14 and a current ratio of 1.27. Hess Co. has a fifty-two week low of $123.79 and a fifty-two week high of $167.75. The company has a market capitalization of $41.69 billion, a PE ratio of 20.72 and a beta of 1.15.

Hess (NYSE:HES) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 31st. The oil and gas producer reported $2.62 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.48 by $0.14. The company had revenue of $3.26 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.24 billion. Hess had a net margin of 21.22% and a return on equity of 27.43%. Hess’s revenue was up 40.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.65 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Hess Co. will post 11.04 earnings per share for the current year.

Hess Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 30th. Investors of record on Monday, September 16th will be issued a dividend of $0.50 per share. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.48%. This is a positive change from Hess’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.44. The ex-dividend date is Monday, September 16th. Hess’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 30.63%.

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.