VAALCO Energy, Inc. (NYSE:EGY) Sees Significant Increase in Short Interest

VAALCO Energy, Inc. (NYSE:EGY) saw a large increase in short interest in the month of December. As of December 15th, there was short interest totalling 4,600,000 shares, an increase of 8.2% from the November 30th total of 4,250,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 905,900 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 5.1 days.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. nVerses Capital LLC bought a new position in VAALCO Energy in the third quarter valued at approximately $60,000. Crestmont Private Wealth LLC bought a new position in shares of VAALCO Energy in the 3rd quarter valued at $63,000. Zacks Investment Management raised its holdings in shares of VAALCO Energy by 19.6% during the 3rd quarter. Zacks Investment Management now owns 15,419 shares of the energy company’s stock worth $89,000 after buying an additional 2,527 shares in the last quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale acquired a new position in shares of VAALCO Energy during the 2nd quarter worth $93,000. Finally, Quantinno Capital Management LP bought a new stake in shares of VAALCO Energy during the 3rd quarter worth $109,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 50.32% of the company’s stock.

VAALCO Energy Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE EGY traded up $0.13 during trading hours on Wednesday, reaching $4.37. 912,209 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 994,471. The firm has a market capitalization of $453.36 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 5.14 and a beta of 1.18. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $5.02 and its 200 day simple moving average is $5.83. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14, a quick ratio of 1.32 and a current ratio of 1.34. VAALCO Energy has a 52 week low of $4.03 and a 52 week high of $7.51.

VAALCO Energy (NYSE:EGY) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, November 11th. The energy company reported $0.08 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.12 by ($0.04). The business had revenue of $140.33 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $128.64 million. VAALCO Energy had a return on equity of 15.63% and a net margin of 17.93%. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.07 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts predict that VAALCO Energy will post 0.5 EPS for the current year.

VAALCO Energy Cuts Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 20th. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 22nd were issued a dividend of $0.0625 per share. This represents a $0.25 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 5.72%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, November 22nd. VAALCO Energy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 29.41%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Separately, StockNews.com cut shares of VAALCO Energy from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 19th.

About VAALCO Energy

VAALCO Energy, Inc, an independent energy company, engages in the acquisition, exploration, development, and production of crude oil, natural gas, and natural gas liquids in Gabon, Egypt, Equatorial Guinea, and Canada. The company holds 58.8% interest in the Etame production sharing contract related to the Etame Marin block covering an area of approximately 46,200 gross acres located offshore in the Republic of Gabon in West Africa.