Alpine Associates Management Inc. Has $233.60 Million Position in Hess Co. (NYSE:HES)

Alpine Associates Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Hess Co. (NYSE:HES) by 3.4% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,720,196 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock after acquiring an additional 56,396 shares during the period. Hess makes up about 10.7% of Alpine Associates Management Inc.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its largest holding. Alpine Associates Management Inc. owned about 0.56% of Hess worth $233,603,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in HES. New Covenant Trust Company N.A. bought a new position in Hess in the first quarter valued at $25,000. Covestor Ltd grew its position in Hess by 59.8% in the third quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 262 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $36,000 after purchasing an additional 98 shares in the last quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC grew its position in Hess by 47.6% in the first quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 273 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $43,000 after purchasing an additional 88 shares in the last quarter. Eastern Bank acquired a new stake in Hess in the third quarter valued at $48,000. Finally, Coastline Trust Co acquired a new stake in Hess in the third quarter valued at $55,000. Institutional investors own 88.51% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have commented on HES. Wolfe Research upgraded shares of Hess from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $150.00 price target for the company in a research note on Monday, September 30th. BMO Capital Markets raised their target price on shares of Hess from $155.00 to $160.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, October 4th. Mizuho cut their target price on shares of Hess from $210.00 to $194.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, September 16th. Piper Sandler cut their target price on shares of Hess from $173.00 to $167.00 in a research note on Friday, September 13th. Finally, UBS Group cut their target price on shares of Hess from $192.00 to $173.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, September 18th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $163.30.

Hess Price Performance

NYSE:HES opened at $146.16 on Wednesday. Hess Co. has a 52 week low of $123.79 and a 52 week high of $163.98. The firm has a market cap of $45.03 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.03 and a beta of 1.15. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $137.56 and its 200 day simple moving average is $142.70. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.75, a quick ratio of 1.13 and a current ratio of 1.26.

Hess (NYSE:HES) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The oil and gas producer reported $2.14 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.88 by $0.26. Hess had a net margin of 20.58% and a return on equity of 27.41%. The firm had revenue of $3.20 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.96 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.64 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 12.7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Hess Co. will post 9.72 earnings per share for the current year.

Hess Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 30th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 16th were issued a $0.50 dividend. 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 1.37%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, September 16th. Hess’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 23.31%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Hess

In related news, SVP Geurt G. Schoonman sold 6,000 shares of Hess stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, November 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $141.91, for a total transaction of $851,460.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 27,581 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,914,019.71. The trade was a 17.87 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO John B. Hess sold 90,476 shares of Hess stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, November 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $142.47, for a total transaction of $12,890,115.72. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 223,147 shares in the company, valued at $31,791,753.09. This trade represents a 28.85 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 9.76% of the company’s stock.

Hess 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.