Kercheville Advisors LLC Sells 6,275 Shares of Hess Co. (NYSE:HES)

Kercheville Advisors LLC reduced its stake in Hess Co. (NYSE:HES) by 28.1% during the first quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 16,060 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock after selling 6,275 shares during the quarter. Hess accounts for approximately 1.0% of Kercheville Advisors LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 27th largest position. Kercheville Advisors LLC’s holdings in Hess were worth $2,565,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its holdings in Hess by 16,134.6% in the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,546,506 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $2,470,230,000 after buying an additional 1,536,980 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its stake in Hess by 46.3% in the 4th quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 2,930,509 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $389,787,000 after buying an additional 927,093 shares in the last quarter. Symmetry Investments LP increased its stake in Hess by 154.1% in the 4th quarter. Symmetry Investments LP now owns 1,381,076 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $183,697,000 after buying an additional 837,662 shares in the last quarter. Adage Capital Partners GP L.L.C. increased its stake in Hess by 6.5% in the 4th quarter. Adage Capital Partners GP L.L.C. now owns 11,438,985 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $1,521,499,000 after buying an additional 698,866 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Point72 Asset Management L.P. increased its stake in Hess by 164.1% in the 4th quarter. Point72 Asset Management L.P. now owns 769,042 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $102,290,000 after buying an additional 477,796 shares in the last quarter. 88.51% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on HES shares. Mizuho cut their price target on Hess from $193.00 to $191.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, May 13th. Piper Sandler cut their price target on Hess from $151.00 to $147.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, May 13th. Susquehanna cut their price target on Hess from $160.00 to $136.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, April 22nd. Wall Street Zen upgraded Hess from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday. Finally, Scotiabank cut their price target on Hess from $164.00 to $146.58 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, April 11th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Hess presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $163.16.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO John B. Hess sold 250,000 shares of Hess stock in a transaction dated Friday, June 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $136.01, for a total value of $34,002,500.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 1,734,679 shares in the company, valued at approximately $235,933,690.79. This trade represents a 12.60% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 650,000 shares of company stock worth $91,845,500. Corporate insiders own 9.10% of the company’s stock.

Hess Stock Down 0.4%

HES opened at $141.71 on Tuesday. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $132.80 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $140.04. Hess Co. has a 52 week low of $123.79 and a 52 week high of $161.69. The company has a market capitalization of $43.83 billion, a PE ratio of 15.75 and a beta of 0.62. The company has a quick ratio of 1.13, a current ratio of 1.12 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.72.

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

Hess Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 30th. Investors of record on Monday, June 16th will be given a $0.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 16th. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.41%. Hess’s dividend payout ratio is currently 27.66%.

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.