EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC Buys 132 Shares of Hess Co. (NYSE:HES)

EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Hess Co. (NYSE:HES) by 19.8% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 798 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock after purchasing an additional 132 shares during the period. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC’s holdings in Hess were worth $106,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Hess by 13.6% during the 4th quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC now owns 3,982 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $530,000 after purchasing an additional 476 shares during the last quarter. AGF Management Ltd. raised its position in shares of Hess by 18.5% during the 4th quarter. AGF Management Ltd. now owns 19,120 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $2,543,000 after buying an additional 2,986 shares in the last quarter. King Luther Capital Management Corp raised its position in shares of Hess by 12.9% during the 4th quarter. King Luther Capital Management Corp now owns 12,816 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $1,705,000 after buying an additional 1,469 shares in the last quarter. Independent Advisor Alliance purchased a new stake in shares of Hess during the 4th quarter valued at about $240,000. Finally, Daiwa Securities Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Hess by 7.7% during the 4th quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 36,473 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $4,851,000 after buying an additional 2,595 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 88.51% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on HES. UBS Group upped their target price on shares of Hess from $185.00 to $186.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Pickering Energy Partners upgraded shares of Hess to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, January 3rd. Wells Fargo & Company upgraded shares of Hess from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and upped their target price for the company from $151.00 to $193.00 in a research report on Monday, December 9th. StockNews.com began coverage on shares of Hess in a research report on Tuesday. They set a “hold” rating on the stock. Finally, Citigroup upped their target price on shares of Hess from $145.00 to $163.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, December 6th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Hess has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $170.60.

Hess Stock Performance

Hess stock opened at $152.81 on Wednesday. The company’s 50-day moving average is $145.75 and its 200 day moving average is $140.43. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.72, a current ratio of 1.12 and a quick ratio of 1.13. Hess Co. has a 1-year low of $123.79 and a 1-year high of $163.98. The firm has a market capitalization of $47.11 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.98 and a beta of 1.21.

Hess (NYSE:HES) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The oil and gas producer reported $1.76 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.44 by $0.32. Hess had a net margin of 21.27% and a return on equity of 26.32%. Research analysts forecast that Hess Co. will post 8.08 EPS for the current year.

Hess Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Investors of record on Monday, March 17th will be issued a dividend of $0.50 per share. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.31%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 17th. Hess’s payout ratio is 22.22%.

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.