Legal & General Group Plc Purchases Shares of 5,789,259 Devon Energy Corporation $DVN

Key Points

• Legal & General Group Plc acquired 5.79 million Devon Energy shares worth approximately $239.2 million, giving it a 0.53% stake. Institutional investors collectively own 69.72% of the company.
• Analysts maintain a positive outlook, with Devon receiving a consensus “Moderate Buy” rating and an average price target of $59.15, despite some target-price reductions.
• Devon reported stronger-than-expected quarterly results, including $1.57 in EPS and $7.42 billion in revenue, while declaring a $0.32 quarterly dividend yielding about 2.7% annually.

Legal & General Group Plc purchased a new stake in shares of Devon Energy Corporation (NYSE:DVN - Free Report) in the second quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund purchased 5,789,259 shares of the energy company's stock, valued at approximately $239,212,000. Legal & General Group Plc owned approximately 0.53% of Devon Energy at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. BlackRock Inc. boosted its position in shares of Devon Energy by 57.6% during the 2nd quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 95,378,854 shares of the energy company's stock valued at $3,941,054,000 after acquiring an additional 34,871,366 shares during the last quarter. GQG Partners LLC bought a new position in shares of Devon Energy in the 2nd quarter worth $402,558,000. Pacer Advisors Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Devon Energy by 2,108.0% in the 4th quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 6,386,921 shares of the energy company's stock worth $233,953,000 after buying an additional 6,097,658 shares during the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its position in shares of Devon Energy by 137.4% during the 2nd quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 9,628,124 shares of the energy company's stock valued at $397,834,000 after buying an additional 5,573,172 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Panagora Asset Management Inc. raised its position in shares of Devon Energy by 42,376.5% during the 4th quarter. Panagora Asset Management Inc. now owns 3,609,228 shares of the energy company's stock valued at $132,206,000 after buying an additional 3,600,731 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 69.72% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

DVN has been the subject of several research reports. Barclays cut their target price on shares of Devon Energy from $62.00 to $58.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Monday, August 17th. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their price target on Devon Energy from $62.00 to $63.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Monday, May 18th. Wolfe Research set a $67.00 price objective on Devon Energy and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Monday, June 22nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price objective on Devon Energy from $62.00 to $55.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, July 8th. Finally, Argus reissued a "buy" rating and set a $45.85 price objective on shares of Devon Energy in a report on Monday, August 17th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-two have assigned a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $59.15.

Devon Energy Stock Performance

NYSE:DVN opened at $46.82 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $51.50 billion, a PE ratio of 11.12, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.29 and a beta of 0.38. Devon Energy Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $31.47 and a fifty-two week high of $52.71. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24, a quick ratio of 0.67 and a current ratio of 0.72. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $43.99 and a 200-day moving average price of $45.59.

Devon Energy (NYSE:DVN - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, August 4th. The energy company reported $1.57 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.40 by $0.17. Devon Energy had a net margin of 16.67% and a return on equity of 14.93%. The company had revenue of $7.42 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.01 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.84 earnings per share. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 73.1% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts predict that Devon Energy Corporation will post 5.2 earnings per share for the current year.

Devon Energy Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, September 30th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, September 15th will be given a $0.32 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, September 15th. This represents a $1.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.7%. Devon Energy's payout ratio is presently 30.40%.

Insider Activity at Devon Energy

In other news, SVP Andrea Alexander sold 18,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, June 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $46.74, for a total transaction of $841,320.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 138,529 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $6,474,845.46. This represents a 11.50% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Company insiders own 4.58% of the company's stock.

About Devon Energy

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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