Merit Financial Group LLC Reduces Stock Position in Devon Energy Corporation $DVN

Merit Financial Group LLC lessened its holdings in Devon Energy Corporation (NYSE:DVN) by 42.7% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 63,544 shares of the energy company’s stock after selling 47,393 shares during the quarter. Merit Financial Group LLC’s holdings in Devon Energy were worth $2,328,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of DVN. Aprio Wealth Management LLC boosted its stake in Devon Energy by 4.1% in the third quarter. Aprio Wealth Management LLC now owns 7,521 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at $264,000 after acquiring an additional 297 shares in the last quarter. Accredited Wealth Management LLC boosted its stake in Devon Energy by 61.6% in the third quarter. Accredited Wealth Management LLC now owns 808 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at $28,000 after acquiring an additional 308 shares in the last quarter. Lindenwold Advisors INC boosted its stake in Devon Energy by 1.2% in the third quarter. Lindenwold Advisors INC now owns 27,094 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at $950,000 after acquiring an additional 314 shares in the last quarter. OneDigital Investment Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Devon Energy by 2.6% in the third quarter. OneDigital Investment Advisors LLC now owns 12,620 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at $442,000 after acquiring an additional 318 shares in the last quarter. Finally, US Bancorp DE boosted its stake in Devon Energy by 0.3% in the third quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 113,308 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at $3,973,000 after acquiring an additional 329 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 69.72% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have issued reports on DVN shares. Barclays upped their price objective on shares of Devon Energy from $52.00 to $54.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, March 16th. Benchmark restated a “buy” rating on shares of Devon Energy in a research note on Friday, January 16th. Jefferies Financial Group upped their price objective on shares of Devon Energy from $44.00 to $53.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, April 13th. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Devon Energy from a “sell (d+)” rating to a “hold (c-)” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 28th. Finally, Zacks Research upgraded shares of Devon Energy from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 4th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-three have issued a Buy rating and seven have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Devon Energy currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $53.96.

Devon Energy Price Performance

Shares of DVN opened at $45.64 on Wednesday. Devon Energy Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $29.70 and a fifty-two week high of $52.71. The company has a market capitalization of $28.36 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.94, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.81 and a beta of 0.47. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $46.44 and a 200-day simple moving average of $39.75. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.48, a quick ratio of 0.90 and a current ratio of 0.98.

Devon Energy (NYSE:DVN) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, February 17th. The energy company reported $0.82 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.81 by $0.01. Devon Energy had a net margin of 15.37% and a return on equity of 16.28%. The business had revenue of $4.12 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.67 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.10 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 6.4% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Devon Energy Corporation will post 4.94 earnings per share for the current year.

Devon Energy Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 31st. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 13th were paid a dividend of $0.24 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 13th. This represents a $0.96 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.1%. Devon Energy’s dividend payout ratio is 23.02%.

Devon Energy Company 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.