Verdence Capital Advisors LLC Cuts Stock Holdings in EOG Resources, Inc. (NYSE:EOG)

Verdence Capital Advisors LLC decreased its position in shares of EOG Resources, Inc. (NYSE:EOG) by 10.3% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 11,619 shares of the energy exploration company’s stock after selling 1,327 shares during the period. Verdence Capital Advisors LLC’s holdings in EOG Resources were worth $1,424,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of EOG Resources by 4.5% during the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 18,192,314 shares of the energy exploration company’s stock valued at $2,230,014,000 after buying an additional 781,282 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of EOG Resources by 1.5% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 12,315,735 shares of the energy exploration company’s stock valued at $1,513,446,000 after buying an additional 180,755 shares during the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. grew its holdings in shares of EOG Resources by 64.7% during the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 5,284,228 shares of the energy exploration company’s stock valued at $694,717,000 after buying an additional 2,076,134 shares during the last quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. grew its holdings in shares of EOG Resources by 5.0% during the fourth quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 4,469,142 shares of the energy exploration company’s stock valued at $547,827,000 after buying an additional 214,497 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Yacktman Asset Management LP grew its holdings in shares of EOG Resources by 10.3% during the fourth quarter. Yacktman Asset Management LP now owns 1,807,065 shares of the energy exploration company’s stock valued at $221,510,000 after buying an additional 168,723 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 89.91% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at EOG Resources

In related news, COO Jeffrey R. Leitzell sold 4,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, December 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $120.89, for a total transaction of $483,560.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 42,703 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,162,365.67. This trade represents a 8.56 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. 0.30% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on EOG shares. Morgan Stanley cut their price target on shares of EOG Resources from $143.00 to $142.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday. UBS Group lowered their price objective on shares of EOG Resources from $165.00 to $160.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday. Royal Bank of Canada upgraded shares of EOG Resources from a “sector perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and increased their price objective for the company from $150.00 to $155.00 in a research report on Wednesday, February 12th. Raymond James increased their price objective on shares of EOG Resources from $167.00 to $175.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. Finally, Wolfe Research upgraded shares of EOG Resources from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $143.00 price objective on the stock in a research report on Friday, January 3rd. Twelve research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, EOG Resources presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $146.10.

EOG Resources Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE EOG opened at $122.15 on Thursday. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $129.36 and a 200-day moving average price of $127.76. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13, a current ratio of 2.31 and a quick ratio of 2.07. The stock has a market cap of $68.70 billion, a PE ratio of 9.83, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.58 and a beta of 1.27. EOG Resources, Inc. has a 1 year low of $115.57 and a 1 year high of $139.67.

EOG Resources (NYSE:EOG) last posted its earnings results on Friday, February 28th. The energy exploration company reported $2.74 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.55 by $0.19. The company had revenue of $5.59 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.96 billion. EOG Resources had a net margin of 29.18% and a return on equity of 23.77%. Equities analysts anticipate that EOG Resources, Inc. will post 11.47 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

EOG Resources declared that its Board of Directors has approved a share repurchase program on Thursday, November 7th that allows the company to repurchase $5.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization allows the energy exploration company to repurchase up to 7% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are often a sign that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

EOG Resources Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 30th. Investors of record on Wednesday, April 16th will be paid a dividend of $0.975 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, April 16th. This represents a $3.90 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.19%. EOG Resources’s payout ratio is 34.73%.

EOG Resources Company Profile

EOG Resources, Inc, together with its subsidiaries, explores for, develops, produces, and markets crude oil, natural gas liquids, and natural gas primarily in producing basins in the United States, the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago and internationally. The company was formerly known as Enron Oil & Gas Company.