Merit Financial Group LLC Cuts Position in Devon Energy Corporation $DVN

Key Points

• Merit Financial Group LLC cut its stake in Devon Energy by 42.7% in Q4, selling 47,393 shares and retaining 63,544 shares valued at about $2.33 million per its SEC filing.
• Several large institutions actually increased their holdings during the period, leaving hedge funds and other institutional investors with 69.72% of the company’s stock.
• Analysts are broadly positive—Devon has a consensus “Moderate Buy” rating with an average price target of $53.96 after multiple recent upgrades and target increases.

Merit Financial Group LLC decreased its position in Devon Energy Corporation (NYSE:DVN - Free Report) by 42.7% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 63,544 shares of the energy company's stock after selling 47,393 shares during the quarter. Merit Financial Group LLC's holdings in Devon Energy were worth $2,328,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also modified their holdings of the stock. Victory Capital Management Inc. increased its position in shares of Devon Energy by 5.0% during the third quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 11,845,958 shares of the energy company's stock worth $415,319,000 after acquiring an additional 560,652 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its position in shares of Devon Energy by 6.3% during the third quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 9,353,062 shares of the energy company's stock worth $327,938,000 after acquiring an additional 552,068 shares during the period. AQR Capital Management LLC increased its position 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 acquiring an additional 1,862,720 shares during the period. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans increased its position in shares of Devon Energy by 5.5% during the third quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 4,712,190 shares of the energy company's stock worth $165,210,000 after acquiring an additional 246,179 shares during the period. Finally, Legal & General Group Plc increased its position in shares of Devon Energy by 3.4% during the third quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 3,286,761 shares of the energy company's stock worth $115,234,000 after acquiring an additional 106,824 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 69.72% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

DVN has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on Devon Energy from $46.00 to $59.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Friday, March 27th. Jefferies Financial Group upped their price objective on Devon Energy from $44.00 to $53.00 and gave the stock a "hold" rating in a research report on Monday, April 13th. Truist Financial initiated coverage on Devon Energy in a research report on Tuesday, March 24th. They set a "buy" rating and a $63.00 price objective on the stock. Scotiabank raised Devon Energy to a "hold" rating in a research report on Friday, March 27th. Finally, Wolfe Research upped their price objective on Devon Energy from $64.00 to $65.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Monday, April 6th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-three have assigned a Buy rating and seven have issued a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $53.96.

Devon Energy Stock Performance

NYSE:DVN opened at $45.64 on Wednesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $28.36 billion, a PE ratio of 10.94, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.81 and a beta of 0.47. The business's fifty day moving average price is $46.44 and its 200 day moving average price is $39.75. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.48, a current ratio of 0.98 and a quick ratio of 0.90. Devon Energy Corporation has a 12 month low of $29.70 and a 12 month high of $52.71.

Devon Energy (NYSE:DVN - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, February 17th. The energy company reported $0.82 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.81 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $4.12 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.67 billion. Devon Energy had a return on equity of 16.28% and a net margin of 15.37%.Devon Energy's revenue for the quarter was down 6.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $1.10 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Devon Energy Corporation will post 4.94 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Devon Energy Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 31st. Investors of record on Friday, March 13th were issued a $0.24 dividend. This represents a $0.96 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.1%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 13th. Devon Energy's dividend payout ratio is 23.02%.

Devon Energy Company 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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