Cassaday & Co Wealth Management LLC Acquires 78 Shares of Hess Co. (NYSE:HES)

Cassaday & Co Wealth Management LLC increased its stake in Hess Co. (NYSE:HES) by 2.4% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 3,266 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock after purchasing an additional 78 shares during the quarter. Cassaday & Co Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Hess were worth $444,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. LMR Partners LLP raised its stake in shares of Hess by 13.8% in the third quarter. LMR Partners LLP now owns 253,589 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $34,437,000 after buying an additional 30,675 shares during the period. Swiss National Bank grew its stake in shares of Hess by 0.5% during the 3rd quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 823,000 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $111,763,000 after acquiring an additional 4,500 shares during the period. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans increased its holdings 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 acquiring an additional 2,630 shares in the last quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC raised its stake in Hess by 45.9% during the 3rd quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC now owns 266,277 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $36,160,000 after acquiring an additional 83,814 shares during the period. Finally, Mizuho Securities USA LLC lifted its holdings in Hess by 295.5% during the third quarter. Mizuho Securities USA LLC now owns 84,277 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $11,445,000 after purchasing an additional 62,966 shares in the last quarter. 88.51% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. UBS Group reduced their price objective on shares of Hess from $192.00 to $173.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, September 18th. BMO Capital Markets increased their price target on Hess from $155.00 to $160.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, October 4th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price objective on Hess from $171.00 to $151.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, September 27th. Scotiabank increased their target price on Hess from $157.00 to $167.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 10th. Finally, Citigroup decreased their target price on Hess from $160.00 to $145.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, September 5th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $163.30.

Hess Stock Performance

NYSE:HES opened at $146.94 on Tuesday. The company has a market cap of $45.28 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.13 and a beta of 1.15. Hess Co. has a 1 year low of $123.79 and a 1 year high of $163.98. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $137.16 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $142.79. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.75, a current ratio of 1.26 and a quick ratio of 1.13.

Hess (NYSE:HES) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The oil and gas producer reported $2.14 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.88 by $0.26. Hess had a net margin of 20.58% and a return on equity of 27.41%. The company had revenue of $3.20 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.96 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $1.64 earnings per share. Hess’s quarterly revenue was up 12.7% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Hess Co. will post 9.72 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Hess Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 30th. Investors of record on Monday, September 16th were issued a $0.50 dividend. This is an increase from Hess’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.44. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 16th. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.36%. Hess’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 23.31%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, SVP Geurt G. Schoonman sold 6,000 shares of the firm’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 completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 27,581 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,914,019.71. This trade represents a 17.87 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CEO John B. Hess sold 90,476 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, November 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $142.47, for a total value of $12,890,115.72. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 223,147 shares in the company, valued at approximately $31,791,753.09. This represents a 28.85 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 9.76% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.