Devon Energy Target of Unusually Large Options Trading (NYSE:DVN)

Devon Energy Corporation (NYSE:DVN) was the target of unusually large options trading activity on Tuesday. Traders acquired 37,050 call options on the stock. This is an increase of approximately 41% compared to the typical volume of 26,365 call options.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on DVN. Benchmark reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Devon Energy in a report on Friday, January 16th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on shares of Devon Energy from $43.00 to $51.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, February 20th. Raymond James Financial boosted their price target on Devon Energy from $44.00 to $52.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 11th. Susquehanna raised their price objective on Devon Energy from $47.00 to $52.00 and gave the company a “positive” rating in a research note on Friday, February 20th. Finally, Capital One Financial lifted their target price on Devon Energy from $50.00 to $64.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 26th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-three have issued a Buy rating and seven have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $53.29.

Devon Energy Trading Down 4.6%

Devon Energy stock traded down $2.16 during trading hours on Tuesday, hitting $45.12. The stock had a trading volume of 5,564,349 shares, compared to its average volume of 13,795,751. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $46.19 and its 200-day simple moving average is $39.33. Devon Energy has a one year low of $28.35 and a one year high of $52.71. The stock has a market cap of $28.04 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.81, a P/E/G ratio of 0.93 and a beta of 0.47. The company has a quick ratio of 0.90, a current ratio of 0.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.48.

Devon Energy (NYSE:DVN) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 17th. The energy company reported $0.82 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.81 by $0.01. Devon Energy had a return on equity of 16.28% and a net margin of 15.37%.The company had revenue of $4.12 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.67 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.10 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was down 6.4% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts predict that Devon Energy will post 4.85 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Devon Energy Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 31st. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 13th were paid a dividend of $0.24 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 13th. This represents a $0.96 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.1%. Devon Energy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 23.02%.

Institutional Trading of Devon Energy

Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. State Street Corp raised its position in Devon Energy by 0.6% during the 4th quarter. State Street Corp now owns 35,542,293 shares of the energy company’s stock worth $1,301,914,000 after purchasing an additional 212,074 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of Devon Energy by 1.0% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 19,177,835 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at $700,238,000 after buying an additional 186,743 shares during the last quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. grew its position in shares of Devon Energy by 17.5% in the 4th quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 13,916,979 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at $509,779,000 after buying an additional 2,071,021 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its stake in shares of Devon Energy by 6.3% in the third quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 9,353,062 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at $327,938,000 after buying an additional 552,068 shares during the period. Finally, Kimmeridge Energy Management Company LLC increased its stake in shares of Devon Energy by 56.5% in the fourth quarter. Kimmeridge Energy Management Company LLC now owns 8,850,790 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at $324,204,000 after buying an additional 3,195,862 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 69.72% 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.