Schechter Investment Advisors LLC Decreases Stock Position in Hess Co. (NYSE:HES)

Schechter Investment Advisors LLC lessened its stake in shares of Hess Co. (NYSE:HES) by 3.2% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 2,815 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock after selling 93 shares during the period. Schechter Investment Advisors LLC’s holdings in Hess were worth $374,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in HES. ACR Alpine Capital Research LLC grew its holdings in Hess by 2.4% during the 4th quarter. ACR Alpine Capital Research LLC now owns 14,939 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $1,987,000 after buying an additional 349 shares in the last quarter. Fidelis Capital Partners LLC boosted its position in shares of Hess by 32.5% during the 4th quarter. Fidelis Capital Partners LLC now owns 2,217 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $308,000 after acquiring an additional 544 shares during the last quarter. Silphium Asset Management Ltd grew its holdings in shares of Hess by 50.0% in the fourth quarter. Silphium Asset Management Ltd now owns 165,000 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $21,947,000 after purchasing an additional 55,000 shares in the last quarter. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. bought a new stake in Hess in the fourth quarter worth $49,000. Finally, Smartleaf Asset Management LLC increased its position in Hess by 61.4% in the fourth quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 1,478 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $193,000 after purchasing an additional 562 shares during 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 analysts have commented on the stock. Citigroup lifted their price objective on shares of Hess from $145.00 to $163.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, December 6th. Pickering Energy Partners upgraded Hess to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, January 3rd. Wells Fargo & Company raised Hess from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $151.00 to $193.00 in a research note on Monday, December 9th. StockNews.com assumed coverage on Hess in a research note on Sunday. They issued a “hold” rating for the company. Finally, UBS Group boosted their target price on Hess from $185.00 to $186.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Hess currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $170.60.

Hess Price Performance

Shares of HES stock opened at $141.43 on Thursday. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $143.39 and a 200 day moving average price of $139.80. Hess Co. has a 52-week low of $123.79 and a 52-week high of $163.98. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.72, a quick ratio of 1.13 and a current ratio of 1.12. The firm has a market capitalization of $43.60 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.71 and a beta of 1.21.

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, topping 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%. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Hess Co. will post 8.08 earnings per share for the current year.

Hess Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 17th will be given a $0.50 dividend. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.41%. Hess’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 22.22%.

About Hess

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.