Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund Sells 224,500 Shares of Hess Co. (NYSE:HES)

Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund reduced its position in Hess Co. (NYSE:HES) by 37.8% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 368,766 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock after selling 224,500 shares during the quarter. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund owned approximately 0.12% of Hess worth $50,078,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of HES. Sanctuary Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Hess during the 2nd quarter valued at $6,054,000. Tidal Investments LLC raised its holdings in Hess by 59.9% during the first 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. Cetera Investment Advisers raised its holdings in Hess by 424.8% during the first quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 19,466 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $2,971,000 after buying an additional 15,757 shares during the last quarter. Calamos Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Hess by 2.7% during the second quarter. Calamos Advisors LLC now owns 590,326 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $87,085,000 after buying an additional 15,684 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. raised its holdings in Hess by 255.1% during the second quarter. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. now owns 6,836 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $1,008,000 after buying an additional 4,911 shares during the last quarter. 88.51% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO John B. Hess sold 90,476 shares of Hess stock in a transaction dated Thursday, November 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $142.47, for a total value of $12,890,115.72. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 223,147 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $31,791,753.09. The trade was a 28.85 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, SVP Geurt G. Schoonman sold 6,000 shares of Hess stock in a transaction dated Thursday, November 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $141.91, for a total value of $851,460.00. Following the completion of 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 position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 314,370 shares of company stock worth $45,856,309. Corporate insiders own 9.76% of the company’s stock.

Hess Stock Performance

NYSE:HES opened at $146.76 on Thursday. The stock has a market cap of $45.22 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.10 and a beta of 1.15. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $139.73 and its 200 day simple moving average is $142.31. Hess Co. has a twelve month low of $123.79 and a twelve month high of $163.98. The company has a quick ratio of 1.13, a current ratio of 1.26 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.75.

Hess (NYSE:HES) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The oil and gas producer reported $2.14 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.88 by $0.26. Hess had a net margin of 20.58% and a return on equity of 27.41%. The firm 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 business posted $1.64 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 12.7% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts predict that Hess Co. will post 9.72 EPS for the current year.

Hess Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 30th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 16th were issued a dividend of $0.50 per share. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.36%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 16th. This is a boost from Hess’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.44. Hess’s payout ratio is 23.31%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price target on shares of Hess from $171.00 to $151.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, September 27th. Susquehanna increased their target price on shares of Hess from $149.00 to $154.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, October 18th. Mizuho cut their price objective on shares of Hess from $210.00 to $194.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, September 16th. Scotiabank raised their target price on shares of Hess from $157.00 to $167.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 10th. Finally, StockNews.com started coverage on shares of Hess in a research note on Tuesday. They set a “hold” rating on the stock. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Hess currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $163.30.

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.