Hess Midstream Partners Target of Unusually High Options Trading (NYSE:HESM)

Hess Midstream Partners LP (NYSE:HESM) was the target of some unusual options trading activity on Friday. Investors acquired 2,012 call options on the company. This represents an increase of 172% compared to the average daily volume of 739 call options.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

HESM has been the topic of a number of research reports. Morgan Stanley initiated coverage on shares of Hess Midstream Partners in a research note on Friday, July 25th. They issued an “equal weight” rating and a $48.00 price objective on the stock. 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. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Hess Midstream Partners from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, August 2nd. Wells Fargo & Company downgraded shares of Hess Midstream Partners from an “equal weight” rating to a “reduce” rating in a report on Friday. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on shares of Hess Midstream Partners from $44.00 to $46.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, August 22nd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Hess Midstream Partners currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $43.67.

Insider Buying and Selling at Hess Midstream Partners

In related news, COO John A. Gatling sold 62,457 shares of Hess Midstream Partners stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $41.59, for a total value of $2,597,586.63. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in HESM. Alps Advisors Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Hess Midstream Partners by 31.1% in the 1st quarter. Alps Advisors Inc. now owns 26,356,221 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,114,605,000 after buying an additional 6,251,664 shares during the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Hess Midstream Partners by 10.0% in the first quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 7,233,773 shares of the company’s stock valued at $305,916,000 after acquiring an additional 655,062 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. lifted its position in shares of Hess Midstream Partners by 50.5% in the second quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 6,022,208 shares of the company’s stock valued at $231,915,000 after acquiring an additional 2,020,430 shares in the last quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. lifted its position in shares of Hess Midstream Partners by 9.8% in the first quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 5,503,752 shares of the company’s stock valued at $232,754,000 after acquiring an additional 492,683 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Kayne Anderson Capital Advisors LP lifted its position in shares of Hess Midstream Partners by 10.6% in the first quarter. Kayne Anderson Capital Advisors LP now owns 2,885,110 shares of the company’s stock valued at $122,011,000 after acquiring an additional 276,779 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 98.97% of the company’s stock.

Hess Midstream Partners Trading Down 10.3%

NYSE:HESM opened at $35.41 on Friday. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $40.60 and its 200-day simple moving average is $39.43. Hess Midstream Partners has a fifty-two week low of $33.59 and a fifty-two week high of $44.14. The stock has a market capitalization of $7.44 billion, a PE ratio of 13.11 and a beta of 0.68. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 7.26, a current ratio of 0.71 and a quick ratio of 0.71.

Hess Midstream Partners (NYSE:HESM) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 30th. The company reported $0.74 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.56 by $0.18. The firm 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 company’s revenue for the quarter was up 13.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.59 EPS. Sell-side analysts expect that Hess Midstream Partners will post 2.5 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Hess Midstream Partners Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 14th. Investors of record on Thursday, August 7th were issued a dividend of $0.737 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, August 7th. This represents a $2.95 annualized dividend and a yield of 8.3%. This is a boost from Hess Midstream Partners’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.71. Hess Midstream Partners’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 109.26%.

About Hess Midstream Partners

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.