Legal & General Group Plc Cuts Holdings in EOG Resources, Inc. $EOG

Key Points

• Legal & General Group Plc trimmed its EOG Resources stake by 2.2% in the fourth quarter, selling 74,438 shares and leaving it with 3.32 million shares worth about $348.6 million.
• Analysts remain constructive overall on EOG, with a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $156.11 after several firms recently raised targets or upgraded the stock.
• EOG reported strong quarterly results, beating earnings and revenue estimates with EPS of $3.41 on $6.92 billion in revenue, while also announcing a $1.02 quarterly dividend payable July 31.

Legal & General Group Plc reduced its position in EOG Resources, Inc. (NYSE:EOG - Free Report) by 2.2% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 3,319,798 shares of the energy exploration company's stock after selling 74,438 shares during the quarter. Legal & General Group Plc owned about 0.61% of EOG Resources worth $348,612,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Capital World Investors raised its position in shares of EOG Resources by 1.4% in the 3rd quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 54,907,949 shares of the energy exploration company's stock worth $6,156,495,000 after buying an additional 782,426 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in shares of EOG Resources by 0.8% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 53,815,556 shares of the energy exploration company's stock worth $5,651,172,000 after buying an additional 446,341 shares during the period. Capital Research Global Investors raised its position in shares of EOG Resources by 0.5% in the 3rd quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 24,926,659 shares of the energy exploration company's stock worth $2,794,784,000 after buying an additional 122,486 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp raised its position in shares of EOG Resources by 0.8% in the 3rd quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 5,974,950 shares of the energy exploration company's stock worth $669,911,000 after buying an additional 49,987 shares during the period. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its holdings in EOG Resources by 6.1% in the 3rd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 5,972,687 shares of the energy exploration company's stock valued at $669,727,000 after purchasing an additional 344,291 shares in the last quarter. 89.91% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts recently issued reports on EOG shares. Mizuho increased their price target on EOG Resources from $147.00 to $149.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Wednesday, May 6th. Zacks Research upgraded EOG Resources from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, April 28th. Truist Financial increased their price target on EOG Resources from $146.00 to $149.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a report on Friday, May 8th. Weiss Ratings upgraded EOG Resources from a "hold (c+)" rating to a "buy (b-)" rating in a report on Wednesday, May 13th. Finally, Scotiabank increased their price target on EOG Resources from $123.00 to $139.00 and gave the company a "sector perform" rating in a report on Wednesday, April 22nd. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirteen have given a Buy rating and fifteen have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $156.11.

Insider Activity

In other news, CFO Ann D. Janssen sold 4,161 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $140.04, for a total transaction of $582,706.44. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 100,246 shares in the company, valued at $14,038,449.84. This trade represents a 3.99% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, COO Jeffrey R. Leitzell sold 5,698 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $150.32, for a total value of $856,523.36. Following the sale, the chief operating officer owned 88,045 shares of the company's stock, valued at $13,234,924.40. This represents a 6.08% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold 16,230 shares of company stock valued at $2,272,568 over the last 90 days. Insiders own 0.14% of the company's stock.

EOG Resources Stock Down 3.4%

Shares of EOG Resources stock opened at $136.43 on Wednesday. The business has a 50-day moving average of $138.13 and a 200-day moving average of $121.26. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26, a current ratio of 1.72 and a quick ratio of 1.53. The company has a market capitalization of $72.67 billion, a PE ratio of 13.43 and a beta of 0.27. EOG Resources, Inc. has a 1-year low of $101.59 and a 1-year high of $151.87.

EOG Resources (NYSE:EOG - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, May 5th. The energy exploration company reported $3.41 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.23 by $0.18. The company had revenue of $6.92 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.18 billion. EOG Resources had a return on equity of 19.25% and a net margin of 23.01%.The company's revenue was up 22.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm earned $2.87 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts forecast that EOG Resources, Inc. will post 15.67 EPS for the current fiscal year.

EOG Resources Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, July 31st. Stockholders of record on Friday, July 17th will be paid a dividend of $1.02 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, July 17th. This represents a $4.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.0%. EOG Resources's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 40.16%.

About EOG Resources

EOG Resources, Inc NYSE: EOG is an independent exploration and production company headquartered in Houston, Texas. Tracing its corporate origins to Enron Oil & Gas Company in the late 1990s, the company established itself as a stand‑alone E&P operator and has grown into one of the largest U.S. upstream producers. EOG focuses on the exploration, development and production of crude oil, condensate, natural gas and natural gas liquids (NGLs).

As an upstream-focused company, EOG's core activities include geologic and geophysical exploration, drilling and completion of wells, reservoir development, and the marketing of hydrocarbon production.

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