Northern Oil and Gas (NYSE:NOG) Announces Stock Repurchase Program

Northern Oil and Gas (NYSE:NOG) declared that its Board of Directors has authorized a share buyback program on Tuesday, March 11th, RTT News reports. The company plans to repurchase $100.00 million in shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the company to purchase up to 3.6% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are often an indication that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on the stock. Capital One Financial downgraded shares of Northern Oil and Gas from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, February 21st. Citigroup reduced their price objective on shares of Northern Oil and Gas from $55.00 to $45.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, February 25th. Mizuho downgraded shares of Northern Oil and Gas from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $47.00 price objective for the company. in a research note on Monday, December 16th. Truist Financial increased their price objective on shares of Northern Oil and Gas from $52.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, January 13th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reduced their price objective on shares of Northern Oil and Gas from $45.00 to $40.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Northern Oil and Gas currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $46.89.

Northern Oil and Gas Stock Performance

NYSE:NOG traded up $0.09 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, hitting $27.98. The stock had a trading volume of 1,949,982 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,702,760. Northern Oil and Gas has a twelve month low of $26.59 and a twelve month high of $44.31. The stock has a market cap of $2.77 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 5.44 and a beta of 1.84. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $35.77 and its 200 day simple moving average is $37.54. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.02, a quick ratio of 1.23 and a current ratio of 0.92.

Northern Oil and Gas (NYSE:NOG) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, February 19th. The company reported $1.11 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.27 by ($0.16). Northern Oil and Gas had a net margin of 23.38% and a return on equity of 24.41%. The firm had revenue of $545.47 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $552.34 million. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Northern Oil and Gas will post 5.18 earnings per share for the current year.

Northern Oil and Gas Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 30th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 28th will be issued a $0.45 dividend. This is a boost from Northern Oil and Gas’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.42. This represents a $1.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 6.43%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 28th. Northern Oil and Gas’s dividend payout ratio is currently 35.02%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Northern Oil and Gas

In related news, Director Bahram Akradi purchased 40,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 4th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $28.03 per share, with a total value of $1,121,200.00. Following the acquisition, the director now directly owns 1,662,016 shares in the company, valued at $46,586,308.48. The trade was a 2.47 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO Nicholas L. O’grady purchased 1,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, March 7th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $27.48 per share, for a total transaction of $27,480.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the chief executive officer now owns 226,189 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,215,673.72. This trade represents a 0.44 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders own 2.80% of the company’s stock.

Northern Oil and Gas Company Profile

Northern Oil and Gas, Inc, an independent energy company, engages in the acquisition, exploration, exploitation, development, and production of crude oil and natural gas properties in the United States. It primarily holds interests in the Williston Basin, the Appalachian Basin, and the Permian Basin in the United States.