Hess Co. (NYSE:HES) Shares Purchased by Banco Santander S.A.

Banco Santander S.A. lifted its holdings in Hess Co. (NYSE:HES) by 35.4% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 3,611 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock after acquiring an additional 944 shares during the period. Banco Santander S.A.’s holdings in Hess were worth $490,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Drive Wealth Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Hess by 1.6% during the second quarter. Drive Wealth Management LLC now owns 4,599 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $678,000 after purchasing an additional 72 shares in the last quarter. Quent Capital LLC lifted its position in shares of Hess by 7.3% during the second quarter. Quent Capital LLC now owns 1,074 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $158,000 after purchasing an additional 73 shares in the last quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc grew its stake in shares of Hess by 16.9% during the second quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 540 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $80,000 after acquiring an additional 78 shares in the last quarter. Cassaday & Co Wealth Management LLC increased its holdings in Hess by 2.4% during the 3rd quarter. Cassaday & Co Wealth Management LLC now owns 3,266 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $444,000 after purchasing an additional 78 shares during the last quarter. Finally, UMB Bank n.a. increased its stake in shares of Hess by 4.7% in the second quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 1,771 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $261,000 after buying an additional 80 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 88.51% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO John B. Hess sold 92,894 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, November 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $147.80, for a total transaction of $13,729,733.20. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 229,465 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $33,914,927. This represents a 28.82 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. 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 Hess stock in a transaction dated Thursday, November 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $141.91, for a total value of $851,460.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 27,581 shares in the company, valued at $3,914,019.71. This represents a 17.87 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 314,370 shares of company stock worth $45,856,309. 9.76% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Hess Stock Performance

Shares of HES opened at $148.65 on Friday. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $138.79 and a 200 day moving average price of $142.58. The firm has a market capitalization of $45.80 billion, a PE ratio of 17.33 and a beta of 1.15. Hess Co. has a 52-week low of $123.79 and a 52-week high of $163.98. 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 (NYSE:HES) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The oil and gas producer reported $2.14 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.88 by $0.26. Hess had a return on equity of 27.41% and a net margin of 20.58%. The business had revenue of $3.20 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.96 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.64 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 12.7% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Hess Co. will post 9.72 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Hess Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 30th. Investors of record on Monday, September 16th were paid a dividend of $0.50 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 16th. This is a positive change from Hess’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.44. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.35%. Hess’s dividend payout ratio is currently 23.31%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have recently commented on HES shares. Scotiabank increased their price target on shares of Hess from $157.00 to $167.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 10th. Mizuho decreased their price objective on shares of Hess from $210.00 to $194.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Monday, September 16th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their target price on shares of Hess from $171.00 to $151.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, September 27th. Citigroup cut their price target on Hess from $160.00 to $145.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, September 5th. Finally, StockNews.com assumed coverage on Hess in a research note on Monday, November 18th. They set a “hold” rating for the company. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $163.30.

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.