American Century Companies Inc. Grows Stock Holdings in Hess Co. (NYSE:HES)

American Century Companies Inc. boosted its holdings in Hess Co. (NYSE:HES) by 14.7% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 333,056 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock after buying an additional 42,797 shares during the quarter. American Century Companies Inc. owned approximately 0.11% of Hess worth $44,300,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of HES. Checchi Capital Advisers LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Hess by 3.5% during the fourth quarter. Checchi Capital Advisers LLC now owns 2,154 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $287,000 after purchasing an additional 72 shares during the period. Avantax Advisory Services Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Hess by 1.9% in the 4th quarter. Avantax Advisory Services Inc. now owns 3,971 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $528,000 after acquiring an additional 73 shares during the period. Moss Adams Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Hess by 5.3% in the 4th quarter. Moss Adams Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,682 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $224,000 after acquiring an additional 85 shares during the period. Howard Capital Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Hess by 5.2% in the fourth quarter. Howard Capital Management Inc. now owns 1,809 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $241,000 after acquiring an additional 90 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Parkside Financial Bank & Trust increased its stake in shares of Hess by 18.0% during the fourth quarter. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust now owns 629 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $84,000 after acquiring an additional 96 shares during the period. 88.51% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on the company. UBS Group lifted their price objective on Hess from $185.00 to $186.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Citigroup increased their price objective on Hess from $145.00 to $163.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, December 6th. Wells Fargo & Company upgraded shares of Hess from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $151.00 to $193.00 in a research report on Monday, December 9th. Pickering Energy Partners upgraded shares of Hess to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, January 3rd. Finally, StockNews.com started coverage on shares of Hess in a report on Wednesday. They set a “hold” rating on the stock. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $170.60.

Hess Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:HES opened at $159.10 on Friday. Hess Co. has a one year low of $123.79 and a one year high of $163.98. The stock has a market cap of $49.05 billion, a PE ratio of 17.68 and a beta of 1.21. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $147.64 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $141.58. 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 announced its earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The oil and gas producer reported $1.76 earnings per share for the quarter, beating 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%. On average, analysts forecast that Hess Co. will post 8.08 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Hess Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Investors of record on Monday, March 17th will be paid a dividend of $0.50 per share. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.26%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 17th. 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.