Short Interest in Hess Co. (NYSE:HES) Declines By 9.6%

Hess Co. (NYSE:HESGet Free Report) saw a significant decrease in short interest in December. As of December 15th, there was short interest totalling 5,180,000 shares, a decrease of 9.6% from the November 30th total of 5,730,000 shares. Currently, 1.8% of the company’s shares are short sold. Based on an average trading volume of 1,620,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 3.2 days.

Insider Activity at Hess

In other Hess news, SVP Geurt G. Schoonman sold 6,000 shares of the firm’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 completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 27,581 shares in the company, valued at $3,914,019.71. This trade represents a 17.87 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CEO John B. Hess sold 92,894 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $147.80, for a total value of $13,729,733.20. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 229,465 shares in the company, valued at $33,914,927. This trade represents a 28.82 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 314,370 shares of company stock worth $45,856,309 over the last quarter. 9.76% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Hess

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Primecap Management Co. CA raised its position in shares of Hess by 4.4% in the 2nd quarter. Primecap Management Co. CA now owns 8,098,012 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $1,194,619,000 after purchasing an additional 340,490 shares in the last quarter. HBK Investments L P increased its stake in shares of Hess by 16.7% in the third quarter. HBK Investments L P now owns 7,117,820 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $966,600,000 after buying an additional 1,017,720 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in Hess by 1.1% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 6,537,162 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $884,709,000 after acquiring an additional 74,085 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its stake in Hess by 58.9% during the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 3,753,126 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $509,675,000 after acquiring an additional 1,391,311 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA grew its holdings in Hess by 31.0% during the 3rd quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 3,318,822 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $450,696,000 after acquiring an additional 785,270 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 88.51% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have recently commented on the stock. BMO Capital Markets boosted their target price on shares of Hess from $155.00 to $160.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, October 4th. Wolfe Research upgraded shares of Hess from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $150.00 price objective on the stock in a research note on Monday, September 30th. Mizuho decreased their price target on shares of Hess from $210.00 to $194.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, September 16th. Wells Fargo & Company raised Hess from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their target price for the company from $151.00 to $193.00 in a research report on Monday, December 9th. Finally, UBS Group increased their price objective on shares of Hess from $173.00 to $185.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 3rd. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $170.50.

View Our Latest Stock Report on Hess

Hess Price Performance

HES stock traded up $2.30 during trading on Wednesday, hitting $133.01. The stock had a trading volume of 1,478,207 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,049,343. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.75, a current ratio of 1.26 and a quick ratio of 1.13. The stock has a market capitalization of $40.98 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.50 and a beta of 1.17. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $139.68 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $139.89. Hess has a twelve month low of $123.79 and a twelve month high of $163.98.

Hess (NYSE:HESGet Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The oil and gas producer reported $2.14 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.88 by $0.26. The company had revenue of $3.20 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.96 billion. Hess had a return on equity of 27.41% and a net margin of 20.58%. Hess’s revenue for the quarter was up 12.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.64 EPS. As a group, research analysts predict that Hess will post 9.74 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Hess Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 31st. Investors of record on Monday, December 16th were issued a dividend of $0.50 per share. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.50%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 16th. Hess’s dividend payout ratio is currently 23.31%.

About Hess

(Get Free Report)

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.

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