Northern Oil and Gas, Inc. $NOG Shares Sold by New York State Common Retirement Fund

New York State Common Retirement Fund reduced its stake in Northern Oil and Gas, Inc. (NYSE:NOG) by 76.8% in the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 1,168,755 shares of the company’s stock after selling 3,877,502 shares during the period. New York State Common Retirement Fund’s holdings in Northern Oil and Gas were worth $28,985,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of NOG. Teacher Retirement System of Texas increased its stake in Northern Oil and Gas by 2.9% during the 2nd quarter. Teacher Retirement System of Texas now owns 14,270 shares of the company’s stock valued at $405,000 after purchasing an additional 402 shares in the last quarter. Range Financial Group LLC grew its holdings in shares of Northern Oil and Gas by 5.3% during the third quarter. Range Financial Group LLC now owns 9,736 shares of the company’s stock valued at $241,000 after buying an additional 486 shares during the last quarter. First National Advisers LLC increased its position in shares of Northern Oil and Gas by 4.8% in the 3rd quarter. First National Advisers LLC now owns 12,665 shares of the company’s stock valued at $314,000 after acquiring an additional 580 shares during the period. KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS increased its position in shares of Northern Oil and Gas by 3.0% in the 2nd quarter. KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS now owns 20,300 shares of the company’s stock valued at $583,000 after acquiring an additional 600 shares during the period. Finally, AlphaQuest LLC raised its stake in Northern Oil and Gas by 1.6% in the 2nd quarter. AlphaQuest LLC now owns 44,261 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,255,000 after acquiring an additional 685 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 98.80% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

NOG has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Citigroup dropped their price target on Northern Oil and Gas from $32.00 to $28.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, October 20th. Royal Bank Of Canada decreased their target price on Northern Oil and Gas from $33.00 to $30.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, January 20th. Morgan Stanley set a $24.00 target price on Northern Oil and Gas and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research report on Friday, January 23rd. Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of Northern Oil and Gas in a research report on Thursday, January 22nd. Finally, Mizuho set a $29.00 price objective on shares of Northern Oil and Gas in a research note on Wednesday, January 21st. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, three have given a Buy rating, five have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $29.29.

Northern Oil and Gas Stock Performance

Shares of NOG stock opened at $25.03 on Friday. Northern Oil and Gas, Inc. has a 1 year low of $19.88 and a 1 year high of $37.17. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.05, a quick ratio of 1.10 and a current ratio of 1.10. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $22.57 and its two-hundred day moving average is $23.82. The firm has a market cap of $2.44 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.14 and a beta of 0.98.

Northern Oil and Gas (NYSE:NOG) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, November 6th. The company reported $1.03 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.82 by $0.21. Northern Oil and Gas had a net margin of 7.61% and a return on equity of 20.61%. The company had revenue of $556.64 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $528.36 million. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.40 EPS. Northern Oil and Gas’s revenue was down 26.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts predict that Northern Oil and Gas, Inc. will post 5.18 earnings per share for the current year.

Northern Oil and Gas Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, January 30th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, December 30th were issued a $0.45 dividend. This represents a $1.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 7.2%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, December 30th. Northern Oil and Gas’s dividend payout ratio is 101.69%.

Northern Oil and Gas Profile

Northern Oil and Gas, Inc is a publicly traded independent energy company focused on the acquisition, exploration and development of oil and natural gas resources in the United States. The company’s primary operations are concentrated in the Williston Basin, where it secures acreage positions and partners with drilling operators to advance upstream projects. Through strategic leasehold acquisitions and joint ventures, Northern Oil and Gas seeks to expand its footprint in both conventional and unconventional reservoirs.

Northern Oil and Gas employs horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing technologies to develop unconventional resource plays, particularly in the Bakken, Three Forks and Red River formations of North Dakota and Montana.