Public Employees Retirement Association of Colorado Decreases Position in Hess Co. (NYSE:HES)

Public Employees Retirement Association of Colorado reduced its position in shares of Hess Co. (NYSE:HES) by 3.2% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 39,321 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock after selling 1,304 shares during the period. Public Employees Retirement Association of Colorado’s holdings in Hess were worth $5,801,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Ieq Capital LLC lifted its stake in Hess by 19.8% in the 2nd quarter. Ieq Capital LLC now owns 12,295 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $1,814,000 after purchasing an additional 2,035 shares in the last quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Hess by 71.3% in the 2nd quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC now owns 22,492 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $3,318,000 after purchasing an additional 9,363 shares during the last quarter. XTX Topco Ltd acquired a new position in Hess in the second quarter valued at about $1,450,000. Highbridge Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Hess by 74.5% during the 2nd quarter. Highbridge Capital Management LLC now owns 418,918 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $61,799,000 after purchasing an additional 178,918 shares during the period. Finally, Seven Eight Capital LP boosted its position in shares of Hess by 584.8% during the second quarter. Seven Eight Capital LP now owns 40,964 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $6,043,000 after buying an additional 34,982 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 88.51% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have recently commented on HES shares. Sanford C. Bernstein raised shares of Hess from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and raised their price objective for the company from $166.00 to $172.00 in a research note on Wednesday, July 17th. Piper Sandler lowered their price objective on Hess from $173.00 to $167.00 in a research report on Friday, September 13th. StockNews.com assumed coverage on shares of Hess in a report on Friday, June 28th. They issued a “hold” rating for the company. Mizuho reduced their price target on shares of Hess from $210.00 to $194.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, September 16th. Finally, Citigroup dropped their price objective on Hess from $160.00 to $145.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, September 5th. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Hess presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $171.31.

Hess Stock Performance

NYSE:HES opened at $134.40 on Monday. Hess Co. has a 1-year low of $123.79 and a 1-year high of $167.75. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.78, a current ratio of 1.27 and a quick ratio of 1.14. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $138.17 and its 200 day moving average price is $147.03. The firm has a market cap of $41.41 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.58 and a beta of 1.15.

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 the consensus estimate of $2.48 by $0.14. Hess had a net margin of 21.22% and a return on equity of 27.43%. The firm had revenue of $3.26 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.24 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $0.65 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 40.3% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Hess Co. will post 11.04 EPS for the current year.

Hess Increases Dividend

The company 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. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, September 16th. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.49%. This is a boost from Hess’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.44. Hess’s dividend payout ratio is currently 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.