Quadrant Capital Group LLC Has $291,000 Position in Hess Co. (NYSE:HES)

Quadrant Capital Group LLC cut its stake in Hess Co. (NYSE:HES) by 7.1% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 2,188 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock after selling 166 shares during the period. Quadrant Capital Group LLC’s holdings in Hess were worth $291,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC raised its position in Hess by 12.5% during the third quarter. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC now owns 3,648 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $495,000 after purchasing an additional 404 shares in the last quarter. Quantinno Capital Management LP increased its stake in shares of Hess by 33.2% in the 3rd quarter. Quantinno Capital Management LP now owns 26,674 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $3,622,000 after purchasing an additional 6,653 shares during the last quarter. Stifel Financial Corp raised its holdings in shares of Hess by 26.2% during the 3rd quarter. Stifel Financial Corp now owns 39,361 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $5,346,000 after buying an additional 8,174 shares in the last quarter. Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC lifted its position in shares of Hess by 86.5% during the 3rd quarter. Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC now owns 10,533 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $1,430,000 after buying an additional 4,886 shares during the last quarter. Finally, iA Global Asset Management Inc. acquired a new stake in Hess in the third quarter valued at about $2,245,000. 88.51% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

HES has been the subject of several research analyst reports. UBS Group boosted their target price on Hess from $185.00 to $186.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Pickering Energy Partners raised shares of Hess to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, January 3rd. Wells Fargo & Company raised 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 note on Monday, December 9th. Finally, StockNews.com began coverage on Hess in a research note on Thursday, April 3rd. They issued a “hold” rating for the company. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $170.60.

Hess Stock Performance

Shares of Hess stock opened at $130.35 on Tuesday. The stock has a market cap of $40.19 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.48 and a beta of 0.88. Hess Co. has a twelve month low of $123.79 and a twelve month high of $163.98. The company’s fifty day moving average is $148.05 and its 200 day moving average is $142.80. The company has a quick ratio of 1.13, a current ratio of 1.12 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.72.

Hess (NYSE:HES) last issued its quarterly 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%. Sell-side analysts forecast that Hess Co. will post 8.08 EPS for the current year.

Hess Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 31st. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 17th were paid a $0.50 dividend. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.53%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 17th. Hess’s dividend payout ratio is currently 22.22%.

Insider Transactions at Hess

In other Hess news, CEO John B. Hess sold 175,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $159.30, for a total transaction of $27,877,500.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,384,679 shares in the company, valued at approximately $379,879,364.70. This trade represents a 6.84 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. 9.76% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.