Devon Energy Corporation $DVN Shares Bought by Dimensional Fund Advisors LP

Key Points

• Dimensional Fund Advisors increased its stake in Devon Energy by 2.5% in the first quarter, buying 235,561 more shares and bringing its total holding to 9.6 million shares worth about $483.5 million.
• Wall Street sentiment is mostly positive: Devon Energy currently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy with a target price of $59.32, though some analysts have recently downgraded or kept neutral ratings.
• The company raised its quarterly dividend to $0.32 per share from $0.24, while its latest earnings missed estimates slightly, with Q1 EPS of $1.04 versus $1.06 expected.

Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its stake in shares of Devon Energy Corporation (NYSE:DVN - Free Report) by 2.5% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 9,606,131 shares of the energy company's stock after purchasing an additional 235,561 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP owned approximately 1.55% of Devon Energy worth $483,475,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in DVN. State Street Corp lifted its stake in shares of Devon Energy by 0.6% in the fourth quarter. State Street Corp now owns 35,542,293 shares of the energy company's stock valued at $1,301,914,000 after purchasing an additional 212,074 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Devon Energy by 1.0% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 19,177,835 shares of the energy company's stock valued at $700,238,000 after acquiring an additional 186,743 shares in the last quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. lifted its holdings in Devon Energy by 17.5% in the 4th quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 13,916,979 shares of the energy company's stock valued at $509,779,000 after purchasing an additional 2,071,021 shares in the last quarter. Kimmeridge Energy Management Company LLC boosted its position in Devon Energy by 56.5% during the fourth quarter. Kimmeridge Energy Management Company LLC now owns 8,850,790 shares of the energy company's stock worth $324,204,000 after acquiring an additional 3,195,862 shares during the last quarter. Finally, AQR Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Devon Energy by 29.3% during the third quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 8,223,219 shares of the energy company's stock worth $288,306,000 after purchasing an additional 1,862,720 shares during the last quarter. 69.72% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

DVN has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Weiss Ratings reissued a "hold (c)" rating on shares of Devon Energy in a research report on Thursday, June 11th. Zacks Research downgraded Devon Energy from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 27th. Evercore upgraded shares of Devon Energy from an "in-line" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $54.00 target price for the company in a research note on Wednesday, June 10th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on Devon Energy from $66.00 to $68.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Monday, May 18th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group raised their price objective on shares of Devon Energy from $62.00 to $63.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Monday, May 18th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-three have given a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Devon Energy presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $59.32.

Devon Energy Stock Down 0.1%

Devon Energy stock opened at $43.80 on Tuesday. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $44.32 and a 200-day simple moving average of $44.18. The firm has a market capitalization of $27.22 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.20 and a beta of 0.38. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.48, a quick ratio of 0.94 and a current ratio of 1.01. Devon Energy Corporation has a one year low of $31.47 and a one year high of $52.71.

Devon Energy (NYSE:DVN - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, May 5th. The energy company reported $1.04 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.06 by ($0.02). The business had revenue of $3.81 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.34 billion. Devon Energy had a return on equity of 15.22% and a net margin of 13.71%.The business's quarterly revenue was down 14.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.82 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts expect that Devon Energy Corporation will post 4.61 earnings per share for the current year.

Devon Energy Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, June 30th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 15th were paid a dividend of $0.32 per share. This represents a $1.28 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.9%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 15th. This is a positive change from Devon Energy's previous quarterly dividend of $0.24. Devon Energy's dividend payout ratio is 35.65%.

Insider Activity at Devon Energy

In other Devon Energy news, EVP Jeffrey L. Ritenour sold 70,029 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $46.66, for a total value of $3,267,553.14. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 428,452 shares in the company, valued at $19,991,570.32. This represents a 14.05% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, SVP Adam M. Vela sold 24,342 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $47.21, for a total value of $1,149,185.82. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president owned 130,540 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $6,162,793.40. This trade represents a 15.72% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders have sold 112,371 shares of company stock worth $5,258,059 over the last quarter. 4.58% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Devon Energy Profile

Devon Energy Corporation NYSE: DVN is an independent oil and gas exploration and production company headquartered in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. The company focuses on the exploration, development, production and marketing of hydrocarbons, including crude oil, natural gas liquids (NGLs) and natural gas. Devon operates as an upstream energy company that acquires, evaluates and develops onshore resource plays using a combination of drilling, completion and production optimization techniques.

Core business activities include identifying and developing energy reserves, operating well programs and managing reservoir performance to generate production and cash flow.

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