Wetzel Investment Advisors Inc. Acquires Shares of 522 Pioneer Natural Resources (NYSE:PXD)

Wetzel Investment Advisors Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Pioneer Natural Resources (NYSE:PXD) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 522 shares of the oil and gas development company’s stock, valued at approximately $117,000.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of PXD. Dai ichi Life Insurance Company Ltd grew its position in shares of Pioneer Natural Resources by 45.5% in the 3rd quarter. Dai ichi Life Insurance Company Ltd now owns 21,079 shares of the oil and gas development company’s stock worth $4,839,000 after acquiring an additional 6,589 shares in the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. grew its position in shares of Pioneer Natural Resources by 610.6% in the 3rd quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 618,449 shares of the oil and gas development company’s stock worth $141,965,000 after acquiring an additional 531,418 shares in the last quarter. Banco Santander S.A. grew its position in shares of Pioneer Natural Resources by 7.1% in the 3rd quarter. Banco Santander S.A. now owns 51,608 shares of the oil and gas development company’s stock worth $11,847,000 after acquiring an additional 3,438 shares in the last quarter. SCP Investment LP grew its position in shares of Pioneer Natural Resources by 80.0% in the 3rd quarter. SCP Investment LP now owns 1,800 shares of the oil and gas development company’s stock worth $413,000 after acquiring an additional 800 shares in the last quarter. Finally, William Blair Investment Management LLC grew its position in shares of Pioneer Natural Resources by 34.2% in the 3rd quarter. William Blair Investment Management LLC now owns 440,522 shares of the oil and gas development company’s stock worth $101,122,000 after acquiring an additional 112,261 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.57% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have recently commented on the company. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated a “sector perform” rating and issued a $279.00 target price on shares of Pioneer Natural Resources in a research report on Thursday, April 11th. StockNews.com started coverage on Pioneer Natural Resources in a research report on Saturday, April 13th. They set a “hold” rating for the company. Mizuho boosted their price objective on Pioneer Natural Resources from $276.00 to $290.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 19th. Truist Financial boosted their price objective on Pioneer Natural Resources from $238.00 to $278.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, April 5th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus reduced their price objective on Pioneer Natural Resources from $243.00 to $224.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, January 23rd. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, sixteen have issued a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $259.00.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP Mark H. Kleinman sold 3,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $234.35, for a total transaction of $820,225.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 49,856 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $11,683,753.60. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In related news, EVP Mark H. Kleinman sold 3,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $234.35, for a total transaction of $820,225.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 49,856 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $11,683,753.60. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Scott D. Sheffield sold 10,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $235.25, for a total value of $2,352,500.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 462,112 shares in the company, valued at $108,711,848. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 36,766 shares of company stock valued at $9,067,373 over the last three months. Insiders own 0.57% of the company’s stock.

Pioneer Natural Resources Price Performance

Shares of PXD traded up $2.34 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $270.31. The stock had a trading volume of 2,900,079 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,359,799. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $250.68 and its 200-day moving average price is $238.23. The company has a market capitalization of $63.15 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.35 and a beta of 1.31. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21, a current ratio of 0.88 and a quick ratio of 0.72. Pioneer Natural Resources has a 52 week low of $196.74 and a 52 week high of $278.83.

Pioneer Natural Resources (NYSE:PXD) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, February 22nd. The oil and gas development company reported $5.28 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $5.41 by ($0.13). Pioneer Natural Resources had a net margin of 25.28% and a return on equity of 22.42%. The company had revenue of $5.22 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.28 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $5.91 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.1% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts forecast that Pioneer Natural Resources will post 21.5 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Pioneer Natural Resources Cuts Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 22nd. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 4th were issued a dividend of $2.56 per share. This represents a $10.24 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.79%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 1st. Pioneer Natural Resources’s dividend payout ratio is 24.70%.

Pioneer Natural Resources Profile

Pioneer Natural Resources Company operates as an independent oil and gas exploration and production company in the United States. The company explores for, develops, and produces oil, natural gas liquids (NGLs), and gas. It has operations in the Midland Basin in West Texas. The company was founded in 1997 and is headquartered in Irving, Texas.