Goldstone Financial Group LLC Takes $259,000 Position in Hess Co. (NYSE:HES)

Goldstone Financial Group LLC bought a new stake in Hess Co. (NYSE:HES) in the first quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm bought 1,622 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock, valued at approximately $259,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC bought a new stake in shares of Hess in the fourth quarter worth $3,117,000. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of Hess by 4.7% in the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,838,079 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $244,483,000 after acquiring an additional 82,703 shares in the last quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc lifted its position in shares of Hess by 4.5% in the fourth quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc now owns 43,085 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $5,731,000 after acquiring an additional 1,861 shares in the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. lifted its position in shares of Hess by 14.7% in the fourth quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 333,056 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $44,300,000 after buying an additional 42,797 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC lifted its position in shares of Hess by 76.2% in the fourth quarter. Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC now owns 8,188 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $1,089,000 after buying an additional 3,541 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 88.51% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on HES shares. UBS Group upped their price objective on Hess from $163.00 to $173.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Scotiabank reduced their price target on Hess from $164.00 to $146.58 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, April 11th. Mizuho dropped their price objective on Hess from $193.00 to $191.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, May 13th. Piper Sandler dropped their price objective on Hess from $151.00 to $147.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, May 13th. Finally, Susquehanna dropped their price objective on Hess from $160.00 to $136.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, April 22nd. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Hess presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $163.16.

Hess Stock Performance

NYSE HES opened at $142.15 on Friday. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $132.51 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $140.12. The firm has a market capitalization of $43.97 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.79 and a beta of 0.62. Hess Co. has a fifty-two week low of $123.79 and a fifty-two week high of $161.69. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.72, a quick ratio of 1.13 and a current ratio of 1.12.

Hess (NYSE:HES) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 30th. The oil and gas producer reported $1.81 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.95 by ($0.14). The company had revenue of $2.92 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.95 billion. Hess had a net margin of 21.27% and a return on equity of 26.32%. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 12.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $3.16 EPS. On average, equities analysts forecast that Hess Co. will post 8.08 earnings per share for the current year.

Hess Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 30th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 16th will be given a dividend of $0.50 per share. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.41%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 16th. Hess’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 27.66%.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO John B. Hess sold 250,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, June 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $136.01, for a total transaction of $34,002,500.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,734,679 shares in the company, valued at $235,933,690.79. The trade was a 12.60% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Insiders have sold 650,000 shares of company stock worth $91,845,500 in the last ninety days. Company insiders own 9.10% of the company’s stock.

Hess Company 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.