Ieq Capital LLC Purchases 2,035 Shares of Hess Co. (NYSE:HES)

Ieq Capital LLC increased its position in Hess Co. (NYSE:HES) by 19.8% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 12,295 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock after acquiring an additional 2,035 shares during the quarter. Ieq Capital LLC’s holdings in Hess were worth $1,814,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. KRYGER CAPITAL Ltd purchased a new stake in Hess in the fourth quarter worth $110,423,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Hess by 34.5% during the second quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 2,835,486 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $418,291,000 after purchasing an additional 726,631 shares during the period. Hsbc Holdings PLC raised its position in Hess by 76.4% during the second quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC now owns 1,532,132 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $227,273,000 after acquiring an additional 663,338 shares in the last quarter. Water Island Capital LLC purchased a new position in Hess during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $76,714,000. Finally, Bank of Nova Scotia increased its position in shares of 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 buying an additional 462,953 shares in the last quarter. 88.51% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on the company. Piper Sandler lowered their price objective on Hess from $173.00 to $167.00 in a research note on Friday, September 13th. Wolfe Research initiated coverage on Hess in a research report on Thursday, July 18th. They issued a “peer perform” rating for the company. Scotiabank decreased their price objective on Hess from $165.00 to $157.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, July 12th. Mizuho decreased their price objective on Hess from $210.00 to $194.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, September 16th. Finally, StockNews.com began coverage on Hess in a report on Friday, June 28th. They issued a “hold” rating for the company. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $171.31.

Hess Stock Performance

HES opened at $134.40 on Monday. The company has a market capitalization of $41.41 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.58 and a beta of 1.15. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.78, a current ratio of 1.27 and a quick ratio of 1.14. Hess Co. has a 1-year low of $123.79 and a 1-year high of $167.75. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $138.17 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $147.03.

Hess (NYSE:HES) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 31st. The oil and gas producer reported $2.62 EPS for the quarter, beating 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 company had revenue of $3.26 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.24 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.65 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 40.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts predict that Hess Co. will post 11.04 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Hess Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 30th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 16th will be given a dividend of $0.50 per share. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.49%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, September 16th. This is an increase from Hess’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.44. Hess’s dividend payout ratio is 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.