Graypoint LLC Has $315,000 Stock Holdings in Hess Co. (NYSE:HES)

Graypoint LLC increased its stake in shares of Hess Co. (NYSE:HES) by 21.6% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 2,368 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock after buying an additional 420 shares during the period. Graypoint LLC’s holdings in Hess were worth $315,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in HES. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its position in shares of Hess by 58.9% during the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 3,753,126 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $509,675,000 after purchasing an additional 1,391,311 shares in the last quarter. HBK Investments L P lifted its holdings in Hess by 16.7% during the 3rd quarter. HBK Investments L P now owns 7,117,820 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $966,600,000 after buying an additional 1,017,720 shares in the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA boosted its position in Hess by 31.0% in the 3rd quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 3,318,822 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $450,696,000 after buying an additional 785,270 shares during the last quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC increased its stake in shares of Hess by 76.4% in the 2nd quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC now owns 1,532,132 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $227,273,000 after buying an additional 663,338 shares during the period. Finally, Bank of Montreal Can raised its position in shares of Hess by 64.3% during the second quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 1,449,969 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $218,220,000 after acquiring an additional 567,550 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 88.51% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Hess

In other news, SVP Geurt G. Schoonman sold 6,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, November 7th. The shares were 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 $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 can be accessed 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 transaction of $13,729,733.20. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 229,465 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $33,914,927. The trade was a 28.82 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 314,370 shares of company stock valued at $45,856,309. 9.76% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages recently commented on HES. 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 research report on Monday, September 30th. Pickering Energy Partners upgraded shares of Hess to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, January 3rd. 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 report on Tuesday, December 3rd. StockNews.com initiated coverage on shares of Hess in a report on Monday. They set a “hold” rating for the company. Finally, Scotiabank increased 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. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Hess currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $170.50.

Hess Stock Up 1.9 %

HES stock opened at $142.52 on Monday. The business has a 50-day moving average of $139.95 and a 200-day moving average of $139.44. Hess Co. has a fifty-two week low of $123.79 and a fifty-two week high of $163.98. The stock has a market capitalization of $43.91 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.61 and a beta of 1.18. 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 (NYSE:HES) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The oil and gas producer reported $2.14 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.88 by $0.26. Hess had a net margin of 20.58% and a return on equity of 27.41%. The company had revenue of $3.20 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.96 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $1.64 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 12.7% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Hess Co. will post 9.74 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Hess Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 31st. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 16th were paid a dividend of $0.50 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, December 16th. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.40%. Hess’s dividend payout ratio is 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.