CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC Trims Holdings in Hess Co. (NYSE:HES)

CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC decreased its stake in shares of Hess Co. (NYSE:HES) by 32.8% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 1,244 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock after selling 606 shares during the period. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC’s holdings in Hess were worth $174,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Hilltop Holdings Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Hess in the third quarter worth about $294,000. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC lifted its stake in Hess by 12.5% in the 3rd quarter. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC now owns 3,648 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $495,000 after purchasing an additional 404 shares in the last quarter. Royal London Asset Management Ltd. boosted its holdings in Hess by 11.0% in the 3rd quarter. Royal London Asset Management Ltd. now owns 121,162 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $16,454,000 after purchasing an additional 12,020 shares during the period. Quantinno Capital Management LP grew its position in shares of Hess by 33.2% during the 3rd quarter. Quantinno Capital Management LP now owns 26,674 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $3,622,000 after purchasing an additional 6,653 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Stifel Financial Corp increased its holdings in shares of Hess by 26.2% in the third quarter. Stifel Financial Corp now owns 39,361 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $5,346,000 after purchasing an additional 8,174 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 88.51% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms recently issued reports on HES. UBS Group lifted their price objective on Hess from $185.00 to $186.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Pickering Energy Partners raised Hess to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, January 3rd. Wells Fargo & Company upgraded shares of Hess from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $151.00 to $193.00 in a research report on Monday, December 9th. Finally, StockNews.com started coverage on shares of Hess in a research report on Thursday. They set a “hold” rating for the company. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Hess currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $170.60.

Hess Trading Down 9.8 %

HES stock opened at $133.89 on Monday. Hess Co. has a one year low of $123.79 and a one year high of $163.98. The company has a market capitalization of $41.28 billion, a PE ratio of 14.88 and a beta of 0.88. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $148.37 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $142.82. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.72, a quick ratio of 1.13 and a current ratio of 1.12.

Hess (NYSE:HES) last posted its quarterly 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 net margin of 21.27% and a return on equity of 26.32%. As a group, analysts predict that Hess Co. will post 8.08 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Hess Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 31st. Investors of record on Monday, March 17th were issued a dividend of $0.50 per share. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.49%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 17th. Hess’s dividend payout ratio is presently 22.22%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO John B. Hess sold 175,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $159.30, for a total transaction of $27,877,500.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 2,384,679 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $379,879,364.70. This represents a 6.84 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 9.76% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Hess 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.