Hess Co. (NYSE:HES) Stock Position Decreased by Sei Investments Co.

Sei Investments Co. decreased its position in Hess Co. (NYSE:HES) by 44.8% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 32,843 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock after selling 26,694 shares during the quarter. Sei Investments Co.’s holdings in Hess were worth $4,369,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. J.Safra Asset Management Corp bought a new position in shares of Hess during the 4th quarter valued at $25,000. Sierra Ocean LLC bought a new position in Hess during the fourth quarter valued at about $27,000. Groupama Asset Managment raised its holdings in Hess by 22.7% during the third quarter. Groupama Asset Managment now owns 22,606 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $31,000 after buying an additional 4,186 shares in the last quarter. Millstone Evans Group LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Hess in the fourth quarter worth about $33,000. Finally, Rialto Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Hess during the 4th quarter worth about $37,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 88.51% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Hess

In related news, CEO John B. Hess sold 175,000 shares of Hess stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $159.30, for a total value of $27,877,500.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,384,679 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $379,879,364.70. The trade was a 6.84 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. 9.76% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms recently weighed in on HES. UBS Group boosted their target price on Hess from $185.00 to $186.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Citigroup boosted their price objective 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 assumed coverage on shares of Hess in a research note on Thursday. They issued a “hold” rating on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company raised shares of Hess from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $151.00 to $193.00 in a research report on Monday, December 9th. Finally, Pickering Energy Partners raised Hess to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, January 3rd. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Hess currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $170.60.

Hess Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE HES opened at $160.23 on Thursday. The company has a current ratio of 1.12, a quick ratio of 1.13 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.72. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $148.51 and a 200 day simple moving average of $142.58. Hess Co. has a one year low of $123.79 and a one year high of $163.98. The firm has a market capitalization of $49.40 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.80 and a beta of 1.21.

Hess (NYSE:HES) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 29th. The oil and gas producer reported $1.76 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.44 by $0.32. Hess had a return on equity of 26.32% and a net margin of 21.27%. Sell-side analysts expect that Hess Co. will post 8.08 EPS for the current year.

Hess Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 31st. Investors of record on Monday, March 17th were given a dividend of $0.50 per share. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.25%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 17th. Hess’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 22.22%.

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.