First Trust Advisors LP Increases Position in Vermilion Energy Inc. (NYSE:VET)

First Trust Advisors LP lifted its position in shares of Vermilion Energy Inc. (NYSE:VET – Get Rating) (TSE:VET) by 86.6% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 1,004,370 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock after buying an additional 466,057 shares during the period. First Trust Advisors LP owned 0.62% of Vermilion Energy worth $17,778,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of VET. Optiver Holding B.V. raised its stake in Vermilion Energy by 68.7% during the third quarter. Optiver Holding B.V. now owns 1,243 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $27,000 after purchasing an additional 506 shares during the period. Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp raised its stake in Vermilion Energy by 2.7% during the third quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp now owns 22,800 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $493,000 after purchasing an additional 600 shares during the period. Covestor Ltd purchased a new position in Vermilion Energy during the first quarter worth approximately $25,000. Credit Suisse AG raised its stake in Vermilion Energy by 0.7% during the third quarter. Credit Suisse AG now owns 196,414 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $4,206,000 after purchasing an additional 1,271 shares during the period. Finally, HBK Sorce Advisory LLC raised its stake in Vermilion Energy by 8.6% during the fourth quarter. HBK Sorce Advisory LLC now owns 18,432 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $326,000 after purchasing an additional 1,465 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 27.94% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. TD Securities lowered shares of Vermilion Energy from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 29th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised shares of Vermilion Energy from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 14th. Finally, StockNews.com assumed coverage on shares of Vermilion Energy in a research report on Thursday, May 18th. They issued a “hold” rating for the company. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $32.44.

Vermilion Energy Price Performance

VET opened at $12.01 on Tuesday. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $12.63 and a 200 day simple moving average of $15.19. The firm has a market cap of $1.98 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 1.89 and a beta of 2.22. Vermilion Energy Inc. has a twelve month low of $11.34 and a twelve month high of $30.17. The company has a current ratio of 0.83, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26.

Vermilion Energy (NYSE:VET – Get Rating) (TSE:VET) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, March 8th. The oil and gas company reported $0.03 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.22 by ($0.19). The firm had revenue of $620.75 million for the quarter. Vermilion Energy had a net margin of 43.59% and a return on equity of 25.51%. Equities research analysts expect that Vermilion Energy Inc. will post 1.88 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Vermilion Energy Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, July 17th. Investors of record on Friday, June 30th will be issued a dividend of $0.0734 per share. This represents a $0.29 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.44%. This is a positive change from Vermilion Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.07. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, June 29th. Vermilion Energy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 4.55%.

Vermilion Energy Profile

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Vermilion Energy, Inc engages in the acquisition, exploration, development, and production of oil and natural gas. It operates through the following geographical segments: Canada, United States of America, France, Netherlands, Germany, Ireland, Australia, and Corporate. The company was founded by Lorenzo Donadeo and Claudio A.