Securian Asset Management Inc. Decreases Stock Holdings in Hess Co. (NYSE:HES)

Securian Asset Management Inc. reduced its position in shares of Hess Co. (NYSE:HES) by 2.4% in the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 15,815 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock after selling 397 shares during the quarter. Securian Asset Management Inc.’s holdings in Hess were worth $2,333,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Hess by 0.9% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 32,126,526 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $4,903,793,000 after buying an additional 294,146 shares in the last quarter. Alpine Associates Management Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Hess during the fourth quarter worth $237,100,000. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its stake in Hess by 3.1% during the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,595,234 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $229,969,000 after purchasing an additional 48,457 shares in the last quarter. KRYGER CAPITAL Ltd raised its position in Hess by 44.0% in the 1st quarter. KRYGER CAPITAL Ltd now owns 1,103,212 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $168,394,000 after purchasing an additional 337,238 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Clearbridge Investments LLC boosted its stake in shares of Hess by 31.7% in the 1st quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC now owns 909,089 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $138,763,000 after buying an additional 218,563 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 88.51% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on HES shares. Scotiabank decreased their price objective on shares of Hess from $165.00 to $157.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, July 12th. Susquehanna dropped their target price on shares of Hess from $167.00 to $166.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Monday, July 22nd. Citigroup boosted their price objective on shares of Hess from $145.00 to $160.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 5th. StockNews.com initiated coverage on shares of Hess in a research note on Friday, June 28th. They set a “hold” rating on the stock. Finally, Piper Sandler increased their target price on shares of Hess from $172.00 to $173.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 18th. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $178.58.

Hess Price Performance

Shares of NYSE HES traded up $0.45 during mid-day trading on Monday, reaching $134.85. The company had a trading volume of 1,166,924 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,365,555. Hess Co. has a 1-year low of $130.35 and a 1-year high of $167.75. The stock has a market cap of $41.55 billion, a PE ratio of 20.60 and a beta of 1.16. The company has a current ratio of 1.27, a quick ratio of 1.10 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.78. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $146.33 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $149.57.

Hess (NYSE:HES) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 31st. The oil and gas producer reported $2.62 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.48 by $0.14. The company had revenue of $3.26 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.24 billion. Hess had a net margin of 21.22% and a return on equity of 27.43%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 40.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.65 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Hess Co. will post 11.08 earnings per share for the current year.

Hess Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 28th. Investors of record on Friday, June 14th were issued a dividend of $0.4375 per share. This represents a $1.75 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.30%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, June 14th. Hess’s dividend payout ratio is currently 26.80%.

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.