Hess (HES) Rating Lowered to Underweight at J P Morgan Chase & Co

Hess (NYSE:HES) was downgraded by stock analysts at J P Morgan Chase & Co from a “neutral” rating to an “underweight” rating in a note issued to investors on Friday, MarketBeat reports. They presently have a $44.00 target price on the oil and gas producer’s stock. J P Morgan Chase & Co’s target price would suggest a potential upside of 1.38% from the stock’s current price.

Several other research firms have also recently commented on HES. Zacks Investment Research cut shares of Hess from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 8th. Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on shares of Hess from $43.00 to $49.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 18th. Credit Suisse Group assumed coverage on shares of Hess in a report on Monday. They set an “underperform” rating and a $38.00 price target for the company. BMO Capital Markets set a $45.00 price target on shares of Hess and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, November 17th. Finally, Scotiabank set a $50.00 target price on shares of Hess and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, November 17th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company. The company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $50.87.

Shares of Hess (HES) traded up $0.97 on Friday, reaching $43.40. 8,079,524 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 4,161,528. The company has a current ratio of 1.84, a quick ratio of 1.68 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.46. Hess has a 1 year low of $37.25 and a 1 year high of $64.91.

Hess (NYSE:HES) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 25th. The oil and gas producer reported ($1.07) EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($1.29) by $0.22. Hess had a negative net margin of 113.21% and a negative return on equity of 9.30%. The company had revenue of $1.67 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.27 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted ($1.12) EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 39.3% on a year-over-year basis. research analysts forecast that Hess will post -4.59 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

In other Hess news, COO Gregory P. Hill sold 7,400 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, December 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $44.62, for a total transaction of $330,188.00. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider Brian D. Truelove sold 6,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, September 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $42.53, for a total transaction of $255,180.00. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 11.80% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Barrow Hanley Mewhinney & Strauss LLC raised its position in Hess by 2.0% during the 3rd quarter. Barrow Hanley Mewhinney & Strauss LLC now owns 4,227,746 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $198,239,000 after buying an additional 82,901 shares during the last quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers purchased a new position in Hess during the 3rd quarter worth $349,000. IFM Investors Pty Ltd purchased a new position in Hess during the 3rd quarter worth $385,000. California Public Employees Retirement System raised its position in Hess by 3.8% during the 3rd quarter. California Public Employees Retirement System now owns 919,767 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $43,128,000 after buying an additional 33,316 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Janney Montgomery Scott LLC raised its position in Hess by 168.7% during the 3rd quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC now owns 58,480 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $2,742,000 after buying an additional 36,714 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 89.73% of the company’s stock.

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Hess Company Profile

Hess Corporation is an exploration and production company. The Company is engaged in exploration, development, production, transportation, purchase and sale of crude oil, natural gas liquids (NGL) and natural gas. The Company’s segments include Exploration and Production, and Bakken Midstream. Its Exploration and Production segment explores for, develops, produces, purchases and sells crude oil, NGLs and natural gas with production operations primarily in the United States, Denmark, Equatorial Guinea, the Malaysia/Thailand Joint Development Area (JDA), Malaysia and Norway.