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. Gulf of Mexico, and offshore Suriname and Canada. The company is also involved in gathering, compressing, and processing natural gas; fractionating NGLs; gathering, terminaling, loading, and transporting crude oil and NGL through rail car; and storing and terminaling propane, as well as providing water handling services primarily in the Bakken Shale plays in the Williston Basin area of North Dakota. As of December 31, 2021, it had total proved reserves of 1,309 million barrels of oil equivalent. The company was incorporated in 1920 and is headquartered in New York, New York.
Hess Price Performance
Hess stock opened at $116.90 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.69, a quick ratio of 1.55 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.10. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $106.15 and a 200 day moving average price of $106.42. Hess has a 12-month low of $61.93 and a 12-month high of $131.43. The stock has a market cap of $36.19 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.82 and a beta of 1.61.
Hess (NYSE:HES - Get Rating) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 27th. The oil and gas producer reported $2.15 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $2.14 by $0.01. Hess had a net margin of 15.53% and a return on equity of 20.25%. The business had revenue of $2.99 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.60 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.24 EPS. The business's revenue was up 87.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Hess will post 9.26 earnings per share for the current year.
Hess Announces Dividend
The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 30th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, June 15th were issued a dividend of $0.375 per share. This represents a $1.50 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.28%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, June 14th. Hess's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 31.85%.
Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades
Several brokerages have commented on HES. Raymond James raised their price objective on Hess from $112.00 to $140.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Monday, April 25th. Piper Sandler increased their price objective on shares of Hess from $161.00 to $165.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Tuesday, July 19th. Barclays cut their target price on shares of Hess from $153.00 to $149.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Friday, July 15th. Mizuho decreased their price target on shares of Hess from $158.00 to $143.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, July 19th. Finally, Morgan Stanley decreased their target price on Hess from $141.00 to $135.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, July 19th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Hess presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $133.92.
Insider Activity at Hess
In related news, SVP Barbara J. Lowery-Yilmaz sold 36,260 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, June 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $128.29, for a total value of $4,651,795.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 95,624 shares of the company's stock, valued at $12,267,602.96. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. 9.93% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.