Hess Co. Announces Quarterly Dividend of $0.50 (NYSE:HES)

Hess Co. (NYSE:HES) announced a quarterly dividend on Wednesday, December 4th,RTT News reports. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 16th will be paid a dividend of 0.50 per share by the oil and gas producer on Tuesday, December 31st. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.38%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, December 16th.

Hess has increased its dividend by an average of 20.5% per year over the last three years. Hess has a dividend payout ratio of 24.7% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Research analysts expect Hess to earn $8.26 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $2.00 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 24.2%.

Hess Stock Performance

Shares of HES stock opened at $144.75 on Friday. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $141.23 and a two-hundred day moving average of $141.93. The stock has a market capitalization of $44.60 billion, a PE ratio of 16.87 and a beta of 1.17. The company has a quick ratio of 1.13, a current ratio of 1.26 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.75. Hess has a 52 week low of $123.79 and a 52 week high of $163.98.

Hess (NYSE:HES) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The oil and gas producer reported $2.14 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.88 by $0.26. Hess had a return on equity of 27.41% and a net margin of 20.58%. The firm had revenue of $3.20 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.96 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $1.64 earnings per share. Hess’s revenue was up 12.7% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts predict that Hess will post 9.74 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

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

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms recently weighed in on HES. Susquehanna upped their target price on shares of Hess from $149.00 to $154.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, October 18th. UBS Group raised their price objective on shares of Hess from $173.00 to $185.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday. Wolfe Research upgraded shares of Hess from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $150.00 target price for the company in a research note on Monday, September 30th. StockNews.com began coverage on Hess in a report on Wednesday. They set a “hold” rating for the company. Finally, Scotiabank increased their price objective on Hess from $157.00 to $167.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a report on Thursday, October 10th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Hess currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $164.50.

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.