Park Avenue Securities LLC Increases Position in Hess Co. (NYSE:HES)

Park Avenue Securities LLC lifted its position in shares of Hess Co. (NYSE:HES) by 169.5% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 8,408 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock after buying an additional 5,288 shares during the period. Park Avenue Securities LLC’s holdings in Hess were worth $1,118,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Sanctuary Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Hess during the second quarter valued at approximately $6,054,000. Czech National Bank lifted its stake in shares of Hess by 6.4% during the fourth quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 59,927 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $7,971,000 after buying an additional 3,625 shares during the period. Franklin Resources Inc. raised its stake in Hess by 20.8% during the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 1,213,574 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $169,767,000 after purchasing an additional 208,996 shares during the period. Maverick Capital Ltd. purchased a new position in Hess during the third quarter worth approximately $1,052,000. Finally, Mizuho Securities USA LLC raised its stake in Hess by 295.5% during the third quarter. Mizuho Securities USA LLC now owns 84,277 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $11,445,000 after purchasing an additional 62,966 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 88.51% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have weighed in on HES. UBS Group increased their price target on shares of Hess from $173.00 to $185.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 3rd. Citigroup increased their price target on shares of Hess from $145.00 to $163.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, December 6th. StockNews.com began coverage on shares of Hess in a research note on Tuesday. They set a “hold” rating on the stock. Scotiabank increased their price target on shares of Hess from $157.00 to $167.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 10th. Finally, Wolfe Research raised shares of Hess from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $150.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Monday, September 30th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $170.50.

Hess Price Performance

HES opened at $151.33 on Tuesday. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $140.66 and a 200 day simple moving average of $139.44. The firm has a market cap of $46.63 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.64 and a beta of 1.18. Hess Co. has a twelve month low of $123.79 and a twelve month high of $163.98. 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 (NYSE:HES) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The oil and gas producer reported $2.14 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.88 by $0.26. The business had revenue of $3.20 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.96 billion. Hess had a net margin of 20.58% and a return on equity of 27.41%. The business’s revenue was up 12.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business earned $1.64 EPS. Equities research analysts expect that Hess Co. will post 9.51 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Hess Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 31st. Investors of record on Monday, December 16th were issued a dividend of $0.50 per share. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.32%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 16th. Hess’s payout ratio is 23.31%.

Insider Activity at Hess

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

Hess 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.