PDC Energy, Inc. (NASDAQ:PDCE) Declares $0.40 Quarterly Dividend

PDC Energy, Inc. (NASDAQ:PDCE – Get Rating) declared a quarterly dividend on Wednesday, May 24th, Zacks reports. Shareholders of record on Thursday, June 8th will be paid a dividend of 0.40 per share by the energy producer on Thursday, June 22nd. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.27%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, June 7th.

PDC Energy has a payout ratio of 9.9% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Analysts expect PDC Energy to earn $16.59 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $1.60 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 9.6%.

PDC Energy Trading Down 1.9 %

NASDAQ:PDCE opened at $70.63 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a quick ratio of 0.43 and a current ratio of 0.43. PDC Energy has a one year low of $51.72 and a one year high of $89.22. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $64.76 and its 200 day simple moving average is $66.52. The stock has a market cap of $6.18 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 3.01, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.15 and a beta of 2.51.

PDC Energy (NASDAQ:PDCE – Get Rating) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, February 22nd. The energy producer reported $3.22 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.05 by $0.17. The company had revenue of $879.50 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $892.11 million. PDC Energy had a return on equity of 35.66% and a net margin of 49.57%. The business’s revenue was down 41.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $2.86 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that PDC Energy will post 12.87 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have recently commented on PDCE shares. Truist Financial upped their target price on PDC Energy from $70.00 to $77.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 11th. StockNews.com assumed coverage on PDC Energy in a research report on Thursday, May 18th. They set a “hold” rating for the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on PDC Energy from $76.00 to $80.00 in a research report on Thursday, April 6th. Mizuho downgraded shares of PDC Energy from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their target price on shares of PDC Energy from $65.00 to $76.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, April 21st. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $84.50.

Insider Activity at PDC Energy

In related news, CAO Troy M. Welling sold 1,200 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $63.37, for a total value of $76,044.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 13,269 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $840,856.53. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other PDC Energy news, CEO Barton R. Brookman, Jr. sold 2,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $68.22, for a total value of $136,440.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 548,070 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $37,389,335.40. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CAO Troy M. Welling sold 1,200 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $63.37, for a total transaction of $76,044.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 13,269 shares in the company, valued at $840,856.53. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 26,700 shares of company stock worth $1,736,659. Company insiders own 1.50% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On PDC Energy

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Invesco Ltd. increased its stake in shares of PDC Energy by 133.0% during the 1st quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 1,487,666 shares of the energy producer’s stock worth $108,123,000 after purchasing an additional 849,289 shares during the last quarter. Millennium Management LLC grew its stake in PDC Energy by 604.0% in the 4th quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 883,678 shares of the energy producer’s stock valued at $56,096,000 after buying an additional 758,163 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its stake in PDC Energy by 61.0% in the 1st quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 1,652,103 shares of the energy producer’s stock valued at $120,075,000 after buying an additional 625,845 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp grew its stake in PDC Energy by 13.4% in the 1st quarter. State Street Corp now owns 4,751,860 shares of the energy producer’s stock valued at $345,365,000 after buying an additional 561,339 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp grew its stake in PDC Energy by 14.0% in the 1st quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 1,630,146 shares of the energy producer’s stock valued at $118,478,000 after buying an additional 200,373 shares during the last quarter. 96.16% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

About PDC Energy

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PDC Energy, Inc engages in the exploration and production of oil and natural gas. The firm acquires, explores, and develops properties for the production of crude oil, natural gas, and natural gas liquids. Its primary operations are located in the Wattenberg Field in Colorado and the Delaware Basin in Texas.