Bank of Montreal Can Increases Stake in Hess Co. (NYSE:HES)

Bank of Montreal Can increased its stake in shares of Hess Co. (NYSE:HES) by 12.4% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 1,629,098 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock after acquiring an additional 179,129 shares during the quarter. Bank of Montreal Can owned approximately 0.53% of Hess worth $217,664,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in HES. Janus Henderson Group PLC increased its holdings in shares of Hess by 3.0% during the first quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 72,362 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $11,043,000 after acquiring an additional 2,136 shares in the last quarter. B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. purchased a new stake in Hess during the 1st quarter valued at $275,000. California State Teachers Retirement System lifted its holdings in shares of Hess by 12.2% during the 1st quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System now owns 753,564 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $115,024,000 after buying an additional 81,646 shares during the period. Tidal Investments LLC boosted its stake in shares of Hess by 59.9% in the 1st quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 26,823 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $4,087,000 after buying an additional 10,053 shares during the last quarter. Finally, New Covenant Trust Company N.A. purchased a new position in shares of Hess in the 1st quarter worth $25,000. Institutional investors own 88.51% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO John B. Hess sold 125,000 shares of Hess stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $147.08, for a total value of $18,385,000.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 217,894 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $32,047,849.52. The trade was a 36.45 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Geurt G. Schoonman sold 6,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, November 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $141.91, for a total value 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. The trade was a 17.87 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 314,370 shares of company stock worth $45,856,309 over the last quarter. Insiders own 9.76% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts recently commented on the company. Citigroup reduced their price objective on Hess from $160.00 to $145.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, September 5th. BMO Capital Markets increased their price objective on shares of Hess from $155.00 to $160.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, October 4th. Scotiabank raised their price objective on shares of Hess from $157.00 to $167.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a report on Thursday, October 10th. UBS Group reduced their target price on shares of Hess from $192.00 to $173.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, September 18th. Finally, Wolfe Research upgraded shares of Hess from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $150.00 price target on the stock in a research note on Monday, September 30th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $163.30.

Hess Stock Down 2.2 %

HES opened at $145.35 on Tuesday. Hess Co. has a fifty-two week low of $123.79 and a fifty-two week high of $163.98. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.75, a quick ratio of 1.13 and a current ratio of 1.26. The stock has a market cap of $44.79 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.94 and a beta of 1.15. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $139.12 and its 200 day moving average is $142.38.

Hess (NYSE:HES) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 30th. The oil and gas producer reported $2.14 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.88 by $0.26. Hess had a return on equity of 27.41% and a net margin of 20.58%. The business had revenue of $3.20 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.96 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.64 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 12.7% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Hess Co. will post 9.72 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Hess Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 30th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 16th were paid a $0.50 dividend. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.38%. This is an increase from Hess’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.44. The ex-dividend date was Monday, September 16th. Hess’s dividend payout ratio 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.