Hess Midstream Partners (NYSE:HESM) Shares Gap Down - Should You Sell?

Key Points

• Hess Midstream Partners' share price gapped down significantly, opening at $35.85 after closing at $39.48.
• Analysts have mixed ratings on the stock, with targets ranging from $41 to $48 and a consensus rating of "Hold."
• The company recently increased its quarterly dividend to $0.737, representing an 8.2% yield, despite a high dividend payout ratio of 108.89%.

Hess Midstream Partners LP (NYSE:HESM - Get Free Report) gapped down before the market opened on Friday . The stock had previously closed at $39.48, but opened at $35.85. Hess Midstream Partners shares last traded at $35.82, with a volume of 1,344,166 shares changing hands.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms recently weighed in on HESM. Wells Fargo & Company lowered shares of Hess Midstream Partners from an "equal weight" rating to a "reduce" rating in a research report on Friday. Morgan Stanley began coverage on shares of Hess Midstream Partners in a research report on Friday, July 25th. They issued an "equal weight" rating and a $48.00 price objective on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on shares of Hess Midstream Partners from $44.00 to $46.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Friday, August 22nd. UBS Group restated a "neutral" rating and issued a $43.00 target price (down from $45.00) on shares of Hess Midstream Partners in a research note on Wednesday, September 10th. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Hess Midstream Partners from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Saturday, August 2nd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $43.67.

Hess Midstream Partners Trading Down 0.5%

The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $40.60 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $39.43. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 7.26, a quick ratio of 0.71 and a current ratio of 0.71. The company has a market cap of $7.39 billion, a PE ratio of 13.10 and a beta of 0.68.

Hess Midstream Partners (NYSE:HESM - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 30th. The company reported $0.74 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.56 by $0.18. The company had revenue of $414.20 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $405.08 million. Hess Midstream Partners had a return on equity of 60.37% and a net margin of 18.52%.The business's revenue was up 13.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.59 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts forecast that Hess Midstream Partners LP will post 2.5 EPS for the current year.

Hess Midstream Partners Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 14th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, August 7th were paid a $0.737 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, August 7th. This represents a $2.95 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 8.4%. This is a positive change from Hess Midstream Partners's previous quarterly dividend of $0.71. Hess Midstream Partners's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 109.26%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Hess Midstream Partners news, COO John A. Gatling sold 62,457 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $41.59, for a total transaction of $2,597,586.63. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website.

Institutional Trading of Hess Midstream Partners

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Bank of America Corp DE boosted its holdings in shares of Hess Midstream Partners by 16.2% during the 4th quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 260,314 shares of the company's stock valued at $9,639,000 after purchasing an additional 36,315 shares during the last quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Hess Midstream Partners by 5.7% in the 4th quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 7,935 shares of the company's stock valued at $294,000 after acquiring an additional 429 shares during the last quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System lifted its holdings in shares of Hess Midstream Partners by 12.3% in the 4th quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System now owns 89,624 shares of the company's stock valued at $3,319,000 after acquiring an additional 9,808 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Hess Midstream Partners by 4,809.7% in the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 11,587 shares of the company's stock valued at $4,900,000 after acquiring an additional 11,351 shares during the last quarter. Finally, NBC Securities Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Hess Midstream Partners by 107,126.9% in the 1st quarter. NBC Securities Inc. now owns 27,879 shares of the company's stock valued at $1,179,000 after acquiring an additional 27,853 shares during the last quarter. 98.97% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Hess Midstream Partners Company Profile

Hess Midstream LP owns, develops, operates, and acquires midstream assets and provide fee-based services to Hess and third-party customers in the United States. It operates through three segments: Gathering; Processing and Storage; and Terminaling and Export. The Gathering segment owns natural gas gathering and compression systems; crude oil gathering systems; and produced water gathering and disposal facilities.