Cerity Partners LLC Grows Stake in Hess Co. (NYSE:HES)

Cerity Partners LLC boosted its stake in Hess Co. (NYSE:HES) by 8.2% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 20,401 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock after buying an additional 1,539 shares during the quarter. Cerity Partners LLC’s holdings in Hess were worth $2,740,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Federated Hermes Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Hess by 16.9% in the fourth quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 2,083 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $277,000 after acquiring an additional 301 shares during the last quarter. Yakira Capital Management Inc. boosted its stake in Hess by 12.9% during the 4th quarter. Yakira Capital Management Inc. now owns 61,416 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $8,169,000 after purchasing an additional 7,000 shares during the last quarter. Aster Capital Management DIFC Ltd acquired a new stake in Hess during the 4th quarter worth $468,000. Ilmarinen Mutual Pension Insurance Co grew its holdings in shares of Hess by 36.0% during the fourth quarter. Ilmarinen Mutual Pension Insurance Co now owns 39,700 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $5,280,000 after buying an additional 10,500 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Grantham Mayo Van Otterloo & Co. LLC raised its position in shares of Hess by 5.9% in the fourth quarter. Grantham Mayo Van Otterloo & Co. LLC now owns 407,618 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $54,217,000 after buying an additional 22,546 shares during the last quarter. 88.51% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on the stock. UBS Group boosted their price target on shares of Hess from $185.00 to $186.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. StockNews.com started coverage on Hess in a research report on Friday. They issued a “hold” rating for the company. Pickering Energy Partners raised Hess to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, January 3rd. Finally, Scotiabank lowered their price objective on Hess from $164.00 to $146.58 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $168.56.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Hess news, CEO John B. Hess sold 175,000 shares of Hess stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $159.30, for a total transaction of $27,877,500.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,384,679 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $379,879,364.70. The trade was a 6.84 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Insiders own 9.76% of the company’s stock.

Hess Trading Down 0.5 %

Shares of HES stock opened at $127.80 on Tuesday. Hess Co. has a 1-year low of $123.79 and a 1-year high of $163.98. The firm has a market cap of $39.40 billion, a PE ratio of 14.20 and a beta of 0.88. The company has a 50-day moving average of $146.37 and a two-hundred day moving average of $142.59. 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 (NYSE:HES) last released its 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 return on equity of 26.32% and a net margin of 21.27%. On average, analysts predict that Hess Co. will post 8.08 EPS for the current year.

Hess Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 31st. Investors of record on Monday, March 17th were paid a dividend of $0.50 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 17th. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.56%. 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.