Aster Capital Management DIFC Ltd Buys New Position in Hess Co. (NYSE:HES)

Aster Capital Management DIFC Ltd purchased a new position in Hess Co. (NYSE:HES) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm purchased 3,520 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock, valued at approximately $468,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Hess by 0.9% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 33,141,244 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $4,408,117,000 after purchasing an additional 296,406 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in Hess by 2.4% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 6,695,533 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $888,240,000 after buying an additional 158,371 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its stake in shares of Hess by 2.4% in the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 3,844,257 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $511,325,000 after buying an additional 91,131 shares during the period. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA lifted its position in shares of Hess by 5.4% during the 4th quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 3,498,458 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $465,330,000 after buying an additional 179,636 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp grew its stake in shares of Hess by 46.3% during the 4th quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 2,930,509 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $389,787,000 after acquiring an additional 927,093 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 88.51% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have commented on HES shares. UBS Group raised their target price on shares of Hess from $185.00 to $186.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Pickering Energy Partners upgraded Hess to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, January 3rd. Wells Fargo & Company upgraded Hess from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $151.00 to $193.00 in a research report on Monday, December 9th. Finally, StockNews.com initiated coverage on Hess in a research report on Thursday. They set a “hold” rating for the company. Six 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, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $170.60.

Hess Price Performance

Shares of Hess stock opened at $133.89 on Monday. The company has a current ratio of 1.12, a quick ratio of 1.13 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.72. Hess Co. has a 12 month low of $120.00 and a 12 month high of $163.98. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $148.37 and a 200 day moving average of $142.82. The firm has a market cap of $41.28 billion, a PE ratio of 14.88 and a beta of 0.88.

Hess (NYSE:HES) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The oil and gas producer reported $1.76 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.44 by $0.32. Hess had a net margin of 21.27% and a return on equity of 26.32%. On average, research analysts expect that Hess Co. will post 8.08 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Hess Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 31st. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 17th were issued a $0.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 17th. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.49%. Hess’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 22.22%.

Insider Activity

In other Hess news, CEO John B. Hess sold 175,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $159.30, for a total transaction of $27,877,500.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,384,679 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $379,879,364.70. The trade was a 6.84 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Corporate insiders own 9.76% of the company’s stock.

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.