Devon Energy (NYSE:DVN) Upgraded to Buy at Wall Street Zen

Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Devon Energy (NYSE:DVN) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a research note published on Saturday.

DVN has been the topic of a number of other reports. Jefferies Financial Group increased their price objective on Devon Energy from $62.00 to $63.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, May 18th. Roth Capital reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $57.00 target price on shares of Devon Energy in a report on Tuesday, April 28th. Weiss Ratings upgraded Devon Energy from a “hold (c)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Scotiabank increased their price target on shares of Devon Energy from $41.00 to $46.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 22nd. Finally, Barclays raised their price target on shares of Devon Energy from $54.00 to $62.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 26th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-three have given a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $59.60.

Devon Energy Stock Up 3.2%

NYSE:DVN opened at $45.83 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 0.72, a quick ratio of 0.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24. Devon Energy has a twelve month low of $31.47 and a twelve month high of $52.71. The company has a market cap of $50.41 billion, a PE ratio of 10.89 and a beta of 0.38. The company’s 50 day moving average is $43.40 and its two-hundred day moving average is $45.14.

Devon Energy (NYSE:DVN) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, August 4th. The energy company reported $1.57 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.40 by $0.17. The business had revenue of $7.42 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.01 billion. Devon Energy had a net margin of 16.67% and a return on equity of 14.93%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 73.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.84 earnings per share. Analysts anticipate that Devon Energy will post 4.99 EPS for the current year.

Devon Energy Dividend Announcement

The business 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. This represents a $1.28 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.8%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, September 15th. Devon Energy’s dividend payout ratio is currently 30.40%.

Insider Activity at Devon Energy

In other news, SVP Andrea Alexander sold 18,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, June 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $46.74, for a total transaction of $841,320.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president owned 138,529 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,474,845.46. This trade represents a 11.50% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. 4.58% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Devon Energy

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. BlackRock Inc. increased its holdings in Devon Energy by 57.6% in the second quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 95,378,854 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at $3,941,054,000 after buying an additional 34,871,366 shares in the last quarter. GQG Partners LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Devon Energy during the 2nd quarter worth about $402,558,000. Pacer Advisors Inc. grew its position in shares of Devon Energy by 2,108.0% during the 4th quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 6,386,921 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at $233,953,000 after acquiring an additional 6,097,658 shares during the period. Legal & General Group Plc acquired a new stake in shares of Devon Energy during the 2nd quarter valued at about $239,212,000. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its stake in shares of Devon Energy by 137.4% in 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 purchasing an additional 5,573,172 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 69.72% of the company’s stock.

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.