Miracle Mile Advisors LLC Buys 192 Shares of Hess Co. (NYSE:HES)

Miracle Mile Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Hess Co. (NYSE:HES) by 7.7% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 2,692 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock after buying an additional 192 shares during the quarter. Miracle Mile Advisors LLC’s holdings in Hess were worth $358,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Covestor Ltd increased its position in shares of Hess by 59.8% during the third quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 262 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $36,000 after acquiring an additional 98 shares during the period. FSA Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in Hess during the 3rd quarter valued at $37,000. Eastern Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Hess in the 3rd quarter worth $48,000. LRI Investments LLC grew its position in shares of Hess by 157.2% during the 3rd quarter. LRI Investments LLC now owns 355 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $51,000 after buying an additional 217 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Coastline Trust Co purchased a new position in shares of Hess during the third quarter valued at $55,000. 88.51% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms recently weighed in on HES. Pickering Energy Partners raised shares of Hess to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, January 3rd. UBS Group upped their price target on shares of Hess from $173.00 to $185.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 3rd. Wolfe Research upgraded shares of Hess from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $150.00 price objective on the stock in a research note on Monday, September 30th. Scotiabank boosted their price objective on shares of Hess from $157.00 to $167.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 10th. Finally, StockNews.com began coverage on Hess in a research report on Monday. They set a “hold” rating on the stock. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $170.50.

Hess Stock Performance

Shares of HES stock opened at $149.71 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.26, a quick ratio of 1.13 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.75. The company has a market cap of $46.13 billion, a PE ratio of 17.45 and a beta of 1.18. Hess Co. has a 12-month low of $123.79 and a 12-month high of $163.98. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $140.34 and its 200-day simple moving average is $139.48.

Hess (NYSE:HES) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The oil and gas producer reported $2.14 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.88 by $0.26. The company had revenue of $3.20 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.96 billion. Hess had a return on equity of 27.41% and a net margin of 20.58%. The firm’s revenue was up 12.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business posted $1.64 earnings per share. Analysts expect that Hess Co. will post 9.51 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Hess Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 31st. Investors of record on Monday, December 16th were paid a $0.50 dividend. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.34%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 16th. Hess’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 23.31%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Hess news, CEO John B. Hess sold 92,894 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $147.80, for a total transaction of $13,729,733.20. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 229,465 shares in the company, valued at approximately $33,914,927. The trade was a 28.82 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, SVP Geurt G. Schoonman sold 6,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, November 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $141.91, for a total value of $851,460.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 27,581 shares in the company, valued at $3,914,019.71. This represents a 17.87 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 314,370 shares of company stock valued at $45,856,309. Insiders own 9.76% of the company’s stock.

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.