Independent Financial Group LLC Makes New Investment in Devon Energy Corporation $DVN

Independent Financial Group LLC acquired a new stake in Devon Energy Corporation (NYSE:DVN) in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor acquired 16,223 shares of the energy company’s stock, valued at approximately $816,000.

Several other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in DVN. Pacer Advisors Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Devon Energy by 2,108.0% in the 4th quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 6,386,921 shares of the energy company’s stock worth $233,953,000 after buying an additional 6,097,658 shares during the last quarter. Panagora Asset Management Inc. increased its holdings in Devon Energy by 42,376.5% during the fourth quarter. Panagora Asset Management Inc. now owns 3,609,228 shares of the energy company’s stock worth $132,206,000 after buying an additional 3,600,731 shares during the last quarter. Kimmeridge Energy Management Company LLC raised its position in 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 worth $324,204,000 after acquiring an additional 3,195,862 shares during the period. AQR Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of Devon Energy by 78.7% during the 2nd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 6,360,499 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at $202,327,000 after acquiring an additional 2,802,137 shares during the period. Finally, Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership increased its stake in shares of Devon Energy by 608.8% during the 4th quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 2,695,079 shares of the energy company’s stock worth $98,721,000 after purchasing an additional 2,314,843 shares during the last quarter. 69.72% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have issued reports on DVN shares. UBS Group decreased their target price on Devon Energy from $58.00 to $54.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, July 15th. Sanford C. Bernstein increased their price target on Devon Energy from $42.00 to $59.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, April 13th. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their price objective on Devon Energy from $62.00 to $63.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, May 18th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price objective on Devon Energy from $62.00 to $55.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, July 8th. Finally, Citigroup boosted their price objective on Devon Energy from $60.00 to $65.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 20th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-three have given a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Devon Energy has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $59.56.

Devon Energy Trading Up 0.7%

NYSE:DVN opened at $44.08 on Wednesday. The company has a market cap of $27.39 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.28 and a beta of 0.38. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $44.26 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $44.23. Devon Energy Corporation has a 1 year low of $31.47 and a 1 year high of $52.71. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.48, a current ratio of 1.01 and a quick ratio of 0.94.

Devon Energy (NYSE:DVN) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, May 5th. The energy company reported $1.04 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.06 by ($0.02). The company had revenue of $3.81 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.34 billion. Devon Energy had a return on equity of 15.22% and a net margin of 13.71%.During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.82 earnings per share. Devon Energy’s revenue was down 14.5% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts expect that Devon Energy Corporation will post 4.61 EPS for the current year.

Devon Energy Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, June 30th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 15th were issued a dividend of $0.32 per share. This represents a $1.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.9%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 15th. This is a boost from Devon Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.24. Devon Energy’s payout ratio is presently 35.65%.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP Jeffrey L. Ritenour sold 70,029 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $46.66, for a total transaction of $3,267,553.14. Following the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 428,452 shares in the company, valued at $19,991,570.32. This represents a 14.05% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, SVP Andrea Alexander sold 18,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, June 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $46.74, for a total transaction of $841,320.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president directly owned 138,529 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,474,845.46. The trade was a 11.50% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders have sold a total of 112,371 shares of company stock worth $5,258,059 over the last ninety days. Company insiders own 4.58% of the company’s stock.

Devon Energy Profile

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.