RFG Bristol Wealth Advisors LLC Makes New Investment in Hess Co. (NYSE:HES)

RFG Bristol Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Hess Co. (NYSE:HES) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm purchased 4,226 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock, valued at approximately $562,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of HES. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its stake in shares of Hess by 58.9% in the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 3,753,126 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $509,675,000 after buying an additional 1,391,311 shares in the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its holdings in Hess by 46.3% in the 4th quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 2,930,509 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $389,787,000 after acquiring an additional 927,093 shares during the last quarter. Holocene Advisors LP bought a new position in Hess in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $75,126,000. Erste Asset Management GmbH purchased a new stake in Hess during the 4th quarter valued at $47,056,000. Finally, KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS bought a new stake in shares of Hess in the 4th quarter worth $42,158,000. 88.51% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO John B. Hess sold 175,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $159.30, for a total value of $27,877,500.00. Following the completion of the transaction, 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 position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. 9.76% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have recently issued reports on HES shares. 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 target price for the company from $151.00 to $193.00 in a research note on Monday, December 9th. StockNews.com began coverage on shares of Hess in a research note on Wednesday, March 26th. They issued a “hold” rating for the company. UBS Group increased their price objective on shares of Hess from $185.00 to $186.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Finally, Citigroup lifted their target price on shares of Hess from $145.00 to $163.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, December 6th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $170.60.

Hess Trading Up 1.0 %

Shares of Hess stock opened at $161.32 on Wednesday. Hess Co. has a 1-year low of $123.79 and a 1-year high of $163.98. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $148.21 and its 200-day simple moving average is $142.46. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.72, a current ratio of 1.12 and a quick ratio of 1.13. The stock has a market capitalization of $49.73 billion, a PE ratio of 17.92 and a beta of 1.21.

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

Hess Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 31st. Investors of record on Monday, March 17th were paid a dividend of $0.50 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 17th. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.24%. Hess’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 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.