Morgan Stanley Issues Positive Forecast for EOG Resources (NYSE:EOG) Stock Price

EOG Resources (NYSE:EOG - Free Report) had its price target hoisted by Morgan Stanley from $131.00 to $132.00 in a research report released on Friday,Benzinga reports. Morgan Stanley currently has an equal weight rating on the energy exploration company's stock.

EOG has been the subject of a number of other research reports. Scotiabank upgraded shares of EOG Resources from a "sector perform" rating to a "sector outperform" rating and cut their target price for the company from $150.00 to $130.00 in a research note on Friday, April 11th. UBS Group cut their price objective on EOG Resources from $165.00 to $160.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, March 4th. Mizuho reduced their price objective on EOG Resources from $140.00 to $134.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, May 13th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their target price on EOG Resources from $149.00 to $132.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, March 13th. Finally, Raymond James reissued a "strong-buy" rating on shares of EOG Resources in a report on Tuesday, May 20th. Eleven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $139.79.

EOG Resources Price Performance

EOG traded up $0.12 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $111.35. 768,956 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 3,277,907. The company has a quick ratio of 2.07, a current ratio of 2.31 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $114.15 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $123.64. The firm has a market capitalization of $60.77 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.96, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.58 and a beta of 0.78. EOG Resources has a one year low of $102.52 and a one year high of $138.18.

EOG Resources (NYSE:EOG - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The energy exploration company reported $2.87 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $2.75 by $0.12. EOG Resources had a return on equity of 23.77% and a net margin of 29.18%. The firm had revenue of $5.84 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $5.92 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $2.82 earnings per share. The business's revenue was down 7.4% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts predict that EOG Resources will post 11.47 EPS for the current year.

EOG Resources Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, July 31st. Shareholders of record on Thursday, July 17th will be issued a dividend of $0.975 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, July 17th. This represents a $3.90 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.50%. EOG Resources's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 36.18%.

Insider Activity

In other news, COO Jeffrey R. Leitzell sold 4,037 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $127.76, for a total transaction of $515,767.12. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 47,732 shares of the company's stock, valued at $6,098,240.32. This represents a 7.80% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 0.13% of the company's stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On EOG Resources

A number of large investors have recently bought and sold shares of EOG. Nuveen LLC acquired a new position in EOG Resources during the first quarter worth $451,908,000. Wealthfront Advisers LLC lifted its position in EOG Resources by 4,642.2% during the 4th quarter. Wealthfront Advisers LLC now owns 2,852,238 shares of the energy exploration company's stock worth $349,627,000 after buying an additional 2,792,092 shares in the last quarter. Capital World Investors boosted its stake in shares of EOG Resources by 5.2% during the 4th quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 45,919,327 shares of the energy exploration company's stock worth $5,628,497,000 after buying an additional 2,270,013 shares during the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new position in shares of EOG Resources in the 4th quarter valued at about $171,193,000. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC grew its holdings in shares of EOG Resources by 14,784.1% in the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,281,374 shares of the energy exploration company's stock valued at $164,323,000 after acquiring an additional 1,272,765 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 89.91% of the company's stock.

About EOG Resources

EOG Resources, Inc, together with its subsidiaries, explores for, develops, produces, and markets crude oil, natural gas liquids, and natural gas primarily in producing basins in the United States, the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago and internationally. The company was formerly known as Enron Oil & Gas Company.