Hess Co. (NYSE:HES) Sees Significant Drop in Short Interest

Hess Co. (NYSE:HES) was the recipient of a large decrease in short interest during the month of 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. Based on an average trading volume of 1,620,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 3.2 days. Approximately 1.8% of the company’s stock are sold short.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

HES has been the subject of several analyst reports. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price objective on shares of Hess from $155.00 to $160.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, October 4th. Scotiabank raised their price objective on Hess from $157.00 to $167.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 10th. Piper Sandler lowered their target price on Hess from $173.00 to $167.00 in a research note on Friday, September 13th. Wells Fargo & Company raised shares of Hess from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and increased their target price for the stock from $151.00 to $193.00 in a report on Monday, December 9th. Finally, Wolfe Research raised shares of Hess from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $150.00 price target on the stock in a report on Monday, September 30th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $170.50.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Hess news, 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 sale, the chief executive officer now owns 229,465 shares in the company, valued at $33,914,927. This represents a 28.82 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, SVP Geurt G. Schoonman sold 6,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, November 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $141.91, for a total value of $851,460.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 27,581 shares in the company, valued at $3,914,019.71. The trade was a 17.87 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 314,370 shares of company stock valued at $45,856,309 in the last quarter. 9.76% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Hess

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Sanctuary Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Hess in the 2nd quarter worth about $6,054,000. Franklin Resources Inc. grew its position in shares of Hess by 20.8% in the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 1,213,574 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $169,767,000 after purchasing an additional 208,996 shares in the last quarter. Maverick Capital Ltd. bought a new position in Hess in the 3rd quarter worth about $1,052,000. Mizuho Securities USA LLC grew its holdings in Hess by 295.5% during the 3rd quarter. Mizuho Securities USA LLC now owns 84,277 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $11,445,000 after buying an additional 62,966 shares in the last quarter. Finally, LMR Partners LLP increased its position in shares of Hess by 13.8% during the third quarter. LMR Partners LLP now owns 253,589 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $34,437,000 after buying an additional 30,675 shares during the period. 88.51% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Hess Stock Up 1.8 %

Shares of Hess stock traded up $2.30 during trading hours on Wednesday, reaching $133.01. The company’s 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 quick ratio of 1.13 and a current ratio of 1.26. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $139.78 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $139.94. The company has a market capitalization of $40.98 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.50 and a beta of 1.17. Hess has a one year low of $123.79 and a one year high of $163.98.

Hess (NYSE:HES) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The oil and gas producer reported $2.14 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.88 by $0.26. Hess had a return on equity of 27.41% and a net margin of 20.58%. The business had revenue of $3.20 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.96 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.64 EPS. Hess’s quarterly revenue was up 12.7% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts forecast that Hess will post 9.74 earnings per share for the current year.

Hess Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 31st. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 16th were paid a $0.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, December 16th. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.50%. Hess’s payout ratio is presently 23.31%.

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.