Hess Co. (HES) to Issue Quarterly Dividend of $0.50 on December 31st

Hess Co. (NYSE:HES) announced a quarterly dividend on Wednesday, December 4th,RTT News reports. Investors of record on Monday, December 16th will be paid a dividend of 0.50 per share by the oil and gas producer on Tuesday, December 31st. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.38%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, December 16th.

Hess has increased its dividend by an average of 20.5% per year over the last three years. Hess has a dividend payout ratio of 24.7% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities analysts expect Hess to earn $8.26 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $2.00 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 24.2%.

Hess Stock Up 0.5 %

Shares of NYSE HES opened at $144.75 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $44.60 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.87 and a beta of 1.17. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $141.23 and its 200-day simple moving average is $141.93. 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 has a 52-week low of $123.79 and a 52-week high of $163.98.

Hess (NYSE:HES) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 30th. The oil and gas producer reported $2.14 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.88 by $0.26. The company had revenue of $3.20 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.96 billion. Hess had a return on equity of 27.41% and a net margin of 20.58%. Hess’s revenue was up 12.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.64 EPS. Equities analysts predict that Hess will post 9.74 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In other Hess news, SVP Geurt G. Schoonman sold 6,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated 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 owns 27,581 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,914,019.71. This represents a 17.87 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CEO John B. Hess sold 90,476 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, November 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $142.47, for a total transaction of $12,890,115.72. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 223,147 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $31,791,753.09. This trade represents a 28.85 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 314,370 shares of company stock valued at $45,856,309 in the last quarter. Insiders own 9.76% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have issued reports on HES. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their target price on shares of Hess from $171.00 to $151.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, September 27th. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price target on shares of Hess from $155.00 to $160.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, October 4th. UBS Group increased their price objective on shares of Hess from $173.00 to $185.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday. Piper Sandler lowered their target price on Hess from $173.00 to $167.00 in a report on Friday, September 13th. Finally, Citigroup cut their price target on Hess from $160.00 to $145.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, September 5th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $164.50.

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.