44 Wealth Management LLC Decreases Stock Holdings in Hess Co. (NYSE:HES)

44 Wealth Management LLC trimmed its position in shares of Hess Co. (NYSE:HES) by 22.3% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 6,536 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock after selling 1,873 shares during the period. 44 Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Hess were worth $869,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. HBK Investments L P lifted its position in shares of Hess by 16.7% during the third quarter. HBK Investments L P now owns 7,117,820 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $966,600,000 after buying an additional 1,017,720 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of Hess by 1.1% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 6,537,162 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $884,709,000 after purchasing an additional 74,085 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its position in shares of Hess by 58.9% in the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 3,753,126 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $509,675,000 after purchasing an additional 1,391,311 shares during the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA raised its position in shares of Hess by 31.0% in the 3rd quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 3,318,822 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $450,696,000 after purchasing an additional 785,270 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its position in shares of Hess by 2.5% in the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,755,376 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $238,380,000 after purchasing an additional 43,061 shares during the last quarter. 88.51% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

HES has been the subject of several research analyst reports. StockNews.com initiated coverage on shares of Hess in a research report on Saturday. They issued a “hold” rating for the company. Wells Fargo & Company raised shares of Hess from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and increased their price objective for the company from $151.00 to $193.00 in a research report on Monday, December 9th. Pickering Energy Partners raised shares of Hess to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, January 3rd. Citigroup increased their price objective on shares of Hess from $145.00 to $163.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, December 6th. Finally, UBS Group increased their price target on shares of Hess from $185.00 to $186.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Six investment 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.com, Hess presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $170.60.

Hess Price Performance

Shares of NYSE HES opened at $147.96 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $45.59 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.44 and a beta of 1.17. Hess Co. has a 12 month low of $123.79 and a 12 month high of $163.98. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $140.87 and its 200-day simple moving average is $139.01. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.72, a current ratio of 1.12 and a quick ratio of 1.13.

Hess (NYSE:HES) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 29th. The oil and gas producer reported $1.76 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.44 by $0.32. Hess had a net margin of 21.27% and a return on equity of 26.32%. Analysts expect that Hess Co. will post 8.08 EPS for the current year.

Hess Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 31st. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 16th were paid a dividend of $0.50 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, December 16th. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.35%. Hess’s payout ratio is 22.22%.

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.