National Bank of Canada FI Lowers Stock Position in Hess Co. (NYSE:HES)

National Bank of Canada FI lowered its stake in shares of Hess Co. (NYSE:HES - Free Report) by 36.7% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 322,816 shares of the oil and gas producer's stock after selling 187,521 shares during the period. National Bank of Canada FI owned 0.10% of Hess worth $42,938,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Wellington Management Group LLP increased 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 purchasing an additional 1,391,311 shares in the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp boosted 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 buying an additional 927,093 shares during the period. Erste Asset Management GmbH bought a new stake in Hess during the 4th quarter valued at $47,056,000. KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS purchased a new stake in shares of Hess in the fourth quarter worth about $42,158,000. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in Hess by 0.9% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 33,141,244 shares of the oil and gas producer's stock valued at $4,408,117,000 after buying an additional 296,406 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 88.51% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on the stock. Pickering Energy Partners raised shares of Hess to a "hold" rating in a report on Friday, January 3rd. Wells Fargo & Company upgraded Hess from an "equal weight" rating to an "overweight" rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $151.00 to $193.00 in a report on Monday, December 9th. UBS Group upped their price target on Hess from $185.00 to $186.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Finally, StockNews.com initiated coverage on Hess in a research report on Thursday. They issued a "hold" rating for the company. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $170.60.

Hess Price Performance

NYSE HES traded down $4.29 during trading hours on Monday, reaching $129.27. The company's stock had a trading volume of 1,313,127 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,053,199. The company has a quick ratio of 1.13, a current ratio of 1.12 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.72. The firm's 50-day moving average price is $148.37 and its 200-day moving average price is $142.82. Hess Co. has a 1 year low of $123.79 and a 1 year high of $163.98. The company has a market capitalization of $39.85 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.36 and a beta of 0.88.

Hess (NYSE:HES - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 29th. The oil and gas producer reported $1.76 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping 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%. On average, equities research analysts predict that Hess Co. will post 8.08 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Hess Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 31st. Investors of record on Monday, March 17th were issued a dividend of $0.50 per share. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.55%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 17th. Hess's payout ratio is currently 22.22%.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO John B. Hess sold 175,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $159.30, for a total value of $27,877,500.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 2,384,679 shares of the company's stock, valued at $379,879,364.70. This represents a 6.84 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Insiders own 9.76% of the company's stock.

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.