Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC Invests $80,000 in Hess Co. (NYSE:HES)

Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC bought a new position in Hess Co. (NYSE:HES) during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 544 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock, valued at approximately $80,000.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of HES. Treasurer of the State of North Carolina boosted its position in Hess by 1.0% during the fourth quarter. Treasurer of the State of North Carolina now owns 123,339 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $17,781,000 after purchasing an additional 1,210 shares in the last quarter. TD Asset Management Inc boosted its position in shares of Hess by 14.4% during the fourth quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 100,330 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $14,464,000 after buying an additional 12,649 shares during the period. Clearbridge Investments LLC boosted its position in shares of Hess by 136.1% during the fourth quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC now owns 690,526 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $99,546,000 after buying an additional 398,089 shares during the period. Tidal Investments LLC boosted its holdings in Hess by 59.9% in the first quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 26,823 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $4,087,000 after purchasing an additional 10,053 shares during the period. Finally, Bank of Nova Scotia boosted its holdings in Hess by 774.8% in the fourth quarter. Bank of Nova Scotia now owns 522,707 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $75,351,000 after purchasing an additional 462,953 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 88.51% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

HES has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Sanford C. Bernstein raised Hess from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and lifted their price target for the stock from $166.00 to $172.00 in a report on Wednesday, July 17th. Piper Sandler dropped their price target on Hess from $173.00 to $167.00 in a research report on Friday. Susquehanna lowered their price objective on Hess from $151.00 to $149.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, September 4th. UBS Group decreased their price target on Hess from $193.00 to $192.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, August 20th. Finally, Wolfe Research started coverage on Hess in a research note on Thursday, July 18th. They set a “peer perform” rating on the stock. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Hess currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $174.00.

Hess Trading Up 0.7 %

Shares of HES opened at $128.57 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $39.61 billion, a PE ratio of 19.69 and a beta of 1.15. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.78, a quick ratio of 1.14 and a current ratio of 1.27. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $139.71 and a two-hundred day moving average of $147.51. Hess Co. has a fifty-two week low of $123.79 and a fifty-two week high of $167.75.

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

Hess Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 30th. Investors of record on Monday, September 16th will be issued a $0.50 dividend. This is an increase from Hess’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.44. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.56%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, September 16th. Hess’s dividend payout ratio is currently 30.63%.

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.