Thrivent Financial for Lutherans Increases Stock Position in Hess Co. (NYSE:HES)

Thrivent Financial for Lutherans raised its holdings in Hess Co. (NYSE:HES) by 19.1% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 16,369 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock after purchasing an additional 2,630 shares during the period. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans’ holdings in Hess were worth $2,224,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Primecap Management Co. CA increased its position in Hess by 4.4% during the second quarter. Primecap Management Co. CA now owns 8,098,012 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $1,194,619,000 after purchasing an additional 340,490 shares during the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp boosted its stake in shares of Hess by 34.5% in the second quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 2,835,486 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $418,291,000 after purchasing an additional 726,631 shares during the period. Legal & General Group Plc boosted its stake in shares of Hess by 6.6% in the second quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 2,451,807 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $361,691,000 after purchasing an additional 150,945 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its stake in shares of Hess by 11.2% in the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,798,788 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $265,359,000 after purchasing an additional 181,459 shares during the period. Finally, Marshall Wace LLP boosted its stake in shares of Hess by 45.6% in the second quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 1,794,087 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $264,664,000 after purchasing an additional 561,832 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 88.51% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

HES has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Citigroup reduced their price objective on shares of Hess from $160.00 to $145.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, September 5th. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price target on shares of Hess from $171.00 to $151.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, September 27th. Scotiabank raised their price target on shares of Hess from $157.00 to $167.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 10th. Mizuho reduced their price target on shares of Hess from $210.00 to $194.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, September 16th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets raised their price target on shares of Hess from $155.00 to $160.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, October 4th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $163.30.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, SVP Geurt G. Schoonman sold 6,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, November 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $141.91, for a total transaction of $851,460.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 27,581 shares in the company, valued at $3,914,019.71. This represents a 17.87 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, CEO John B. Hess sold 90,476 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, November 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $142.47, for a total transaction of $12,890,115.72. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 223,147 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $31,791,753.09. The trade was a 28.85 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 314,370 shares of company stock worth $45,856,309. 9.76% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Hess Stock Up 0.3 %

Hess stock opened at $146.76 on Thursday. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $139.73 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $142.31. The stock has a market cap of $45.22 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.10 and a beta of 1.15. The company has a current ratio of 1.26, a quick ratio of 1.13 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.75. Hess Co. has a 52 week low of $123.79 and a 52 week high of $163.98.

Hess (NYSE:HES) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 30th. The oil and gas producer reported $2.14 earnings per share (EPS) 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 for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.96 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.64 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 12.7% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts expect that Hess Co. will post 9.72 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Hess Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 30th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 16th were issued a $0.50 dividend. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.36%. This is a boost from Hess’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.44. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 16th. Hess’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 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.