Hess Co. (NYSE:HES) Shares Purchased by Parallel Advisors LLC

Parallel Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Hess Co. (NYSE:HES) by 19.5% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 3,058 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock after acquiring an additional 498 shares during the period. Parallel Advisors LLC’s holdings in Hess were worth $407,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the business. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans boosted its stake in Hess by 19.1% in the 3rd quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 16,369 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $2,224,000 after buying an additional 2,630 shares during the last quarter. B. Metzler seel. Sohn & Co. Holding AG acquired a new stake in shares of Hess in the third quarter worth approximately $2,577,000. Segall Bryant & Hamill LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Hess in the third quarter worth approximately $8,435,000. Commerce Bank boosted its holdings in shares of Hess by 1.6% in the 3rd quarter. Commerce Bank now owns 16,044 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $2,179,000 after purchasing an additional 250 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI grew its stake in shares of Hess by 18.5% during the 3rd quarter. Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI now owns 2,575 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $350,000 after buying an additional 402 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 88.51% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on the company. Pickering Energy Partners upgraded Hess to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, January 3rd. StockNews.com started coverage on Hess in a research note on Tuesday. They issued a “hold” rating on the stock. 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 research report on Monday, December 9th. UBS Group lifted their price target 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. Finally, Citigroup lifted their price target 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 investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $170.60.

Hess Trading Down 0.5 %

NYSE HES opened at $156.59 on Friday. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $146.73 and its 200-day simple moving average is $140.78. Hess Co. has a 52 week low of $123.79 and a 52 week high of $163.98. The company has a current ratio of 1.12, a quick ratio of 1.13 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.72. The stock has a market cap of $48.28 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.40 and a beta of 1.21.

Hess (NYSE:HES) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 29th. The oil and gas producer reported $1.76 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.44 by $0.32. Hess had a net margin of 21.27% and a return on equity of 26.32%. Equities research analysts predict that Hess Co. will post 8.08 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Hess Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.28%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 17th. Hess’s payout ratio 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.