Analysts Set Hess Co. (NYSE:HES) PT at $170.60

Hess Co. (NYSE:HES) has been given a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” by the eleven ratings firms that are currently covering the company, Marketbeat reports. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and six have issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average twelve-month target price among brokers that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $170.60.

HES has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. UBS Group boosted their target price on Hess from $185.00 to $186.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. StockNews.com initiated coverage on Hess in a research note on Saturday. They issued a “hold” rating for the company. Wells Fargo & Company upgraded Hess from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $151.00 to $193.00 in a research note on Monday, December 9th. Citigroup boosted their price target on shares of Hess from $145.00 to $163.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, December 6th. Finally, Pickering Energy Partners raised shares of Hess to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, January 3rd.

Hess Trading Down 2.0 %

NYSE HES opened at $147.96 on Monday. 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 business has a fifty day simple moving average of $141.02 and a 200 day simple moving average of $139.23. Hess has a 12 month low of $123.79 and a 12 month high of $163.98. The firm has a market capitalization of $45.59 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.44 and a beta of 1.17.

Hess (NYSE:HES) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The oil and gas producer reported $1.76 earnings per share for the quarter, beating 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%. On average, analysts predict that Hess will post 8.08 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Hess Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 31st. Investors of record on Monday, December 16th were given a dividend of $0.50 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 16th. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.35%. Hess’s payout ratio is 22.22%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in HES. J.Safra Asset Management Corp bought a new position in shares of Hess during the fourth quarter valued at about $25,000. Sierra Ocean LLC bought a new position in Hess in the fourth quarter worth about $27,000. Millstone Evans Group LLC purchased a new stake in Hess in the fourth quarter worth about $33,000. Covestor Ltd boosted its position in Hess by 59.8% during the 3rd quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 262 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $36,000 after acquiring an additional 98 shares in the last quarter. Finally, FSA Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Hess in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $37,000. 88.51% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.