Legal & General Group Plc Decreases Position in Devon Energy Corporation $DVN

Key Points

• Legal & General Group Plc trimmed its Devon Energy stake by 2.1% in the fourth quarter, selling 70,639 shares and leaving it with 3.22 million shares valued at about $117.8 million.
• Devon Energy reported mixed quarterly results, missing analyst estimates on both EPS and revenue as revenue fell 14.5% year over year. Despite that, analysts still expect full-year EPS of 4.21.
• The company raised its quarterly dividend to $0.32 per share from $0.24, implying an annualized yield of 2.9%, while Wall Street maintains a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” with an average price target of $57.85.

Legal & General Group Plc decreased its holdings in shares of Devon Energy Corporation (NYSE:DVN - Free Report) by 2.1% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 3,216,122 shares of the energy company's stock after selling 70,639 shares during the quarter. Legal & General Group Plc owned approximately 0.51% of Devon Energy worth $117,807,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in DVN. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC purchased a new stake in Devon Energy in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $9,931,000. Allianz Asset Management GmbH lifted its stake in Devon Energy by 4.3% in the third quarter. Allianz Asset Management GmbH now owns 833,155 shares of the energy company's stock valued at $29,210,000 after buying an additional 33,974 shares during the last quarter. Investors Research Corp lifted its stake in Devon Energy by 13,787.5% in the fourth quarter. Investors Research Corp now owns 27,775 shares of the energy company's stock valued at $1,017,000 after buying an additional 27,575 shares during the last quarter. Philip James Wealth Mangement LLC lifted its stake in Devon Energy by 43.8% in the fourth quarter. Philip James Wealth Mangement LLC now owns 161,368 shares of the energy company's stock valued at $5,911,000 after buying an additional 49,115 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Canada Post Corp Registered Pension Plan lifted its stake in Devon Energy by 298.1% in the third quarter. Canada Post Corp Registered Pension Plan now owns 42,351 shares of the energy company's stock valued at $1,585,000 after buying an additional 31,713 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 69.72% of the company's stock.

Devon Energy Trading Down 0.3%

Shares of DVN stock opened at $44.14 on Friday. The business's fifty day moving average price is $48.03 and its 200 day moving average price is $42.36. Devon Energy Corporation has a 1-year low of $30.24 and a 1-year high of $52.71. The firm has a market capitalization of $27.43 billion, a PE ratio of 12.30 and a beta of 0.43. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.48, a current ratio of 1.01 and a quick ratio of 0.94.

Devon Energy (NYSE:DVN - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, May 5th. The energy company reported $1.04 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $1.06 by ($0.02). Devon Energy had a return on equity of 15.22% and a net margin of 13.71%.The business had revenue of $3.81 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.34 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.82 EPS. The company's revenue was down 14.5% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Devon Energy Corporation will post 4.21 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Devon Energy Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, June 30th. Investors of record on Monday, June 15th will be issued a dividend of $0.32 per share. This is a boost from Devon Energy's previous quarterly dividend of $0.24. This represents a $1.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.9%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 15th. Devon Energy's dividend payout ratio is currently 26.74%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on DVN shares. TD Cowen boosted their price objective on Devon Energy from $46.00 to $50.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 17th. Scotiabank boosted their price objective on Devon Energy from $41.00 to $46.00 and gave the company a "sector perform" rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 22nd. Citigroup upped their price target on Devon Energy from $60.00 to $65.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 20th. Mizuho upped their price target on Devon Energy from $62.00 to $68.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Wednesday. Finally, Zacks Research upgraded Devon Energy from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 28th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-two have assigned a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $57.85.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, EVP Jeffrey L. Ritenour sold 70,029 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Monday, May 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $46.66, for a total transaction of $3,267,553.14. Following the transaction, the executive vice president owned 428,452 shares of the company's stock, valued at $19,991,570.32. This represents a 14.05% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, SVP Adam M. Vela sold 24,342 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $47.21, for a total value of $1,149,185.82. Following the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 130,540 shares in the company, valued at $6,162,793.40. This represents a 15.72% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Corporate insiders own 0.71% of the company's stock.

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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