Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI Takes Position in Hess Co. (NYSE:HES)

Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI bought a new stake in Hess Co. (NYSE:HES) in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund bought 2,173 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock, valued at approximately $321,000.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of HES. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in Hess by 0.9% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 32,126,526 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $4,903,793,000 after purchasing an additional 294,146 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased 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 worth $418,291,000 after buying an additional 726,631 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its holdings in Hess by 11.2% during the 2nd 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 buying an additional 181,459 shares during the last quarter. KRYGER CAPITAL Ltd raised its holdings in Hess by 44.0% during the 1st quarter. KRYGER CAPITAL Ltd now owns 1,103,212 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $168,394,000 after buying an additional 337,238 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Clearbridge Investments LLC boosted its position in Hess by 31.7% during the 1st quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC now owns 909,089 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $138,763,000 after buying an additional 218,563 shares during the period. 88.51% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have recently commented on the stock. UBS Group lowered their price objective on shares of Hess from $192.00 to $173.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday. Sanford C. Bernstein raised Hess from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and upped their price target for the company from $166.00 to $172.00 in a research report on Wednesday, July 17th. Wolfe Research assumed coverage on Hess in a research report on Thursday, July 18th. They issued a “peer perform” rating on the stock. Piper Sandler reduced their target price on Hess from $173.00 to $167.00 in a research note on Friday, September 13th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets lowered Hess to an “overweight” rating and dropped their price target for the stock from $175.00 to $160.00 in a research note on Monday, August 19th. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Hess currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $171.31.

Hess Stock Up 0.4 %

NYSE:HES opened at $131.39 on Thursday. 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 50-day moving average price is $138.73 and its 200-day moving average price is $147.17. The company has a market capitalization of $40.48 billion, a PE ratio of 20.12 and a beta of 1.15. Hess Co. has a 1-year low of $123.79 and a 1-year high of $167.75.

Hess (NYSE:HES) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 31st. The oil and gas producer reported $2.62 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.48 by $0.14. Hess had a net margin of 21.22% and a return on equity of 27.43%. The business had revenue of $3.26 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.24 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.65 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 40.3% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities 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. Investors 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 yield of 1.52%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, September 16th. This is a positive change from Hess’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.44. Hess’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 30.63%.

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.