ARS Investment Partners LLC Sells 14,280 Shares of Devon Energy Corporation $DVN

ARS Investment Partners LLC lessened its holdings in shares of Devon Energy Corporation (NYSE:DVN) by 18.7% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 61,945 shares of the energy company’s stock after selling 14,280 shares during the period. ARS Investment Partners LLC’s holdings in Devon Energy were worth $2,172,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its position in Devon Energy by 12.9% during the 1st quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 117,048 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at $4,378,000 after acquiring an additional 13,403 shares during the period. Compound Planning Inc. purchased a new stake in Devon Energy during the 1st quarter valued at $233,000. AlphaQuest LLC increased its position in shares of Devon Energy by 84.4% during the 1st quarter. AlphaQuest LLC now owns 9,751 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at $365,000 after purchasing an additional 4,462 shares during the last quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC raised its holdings in Devon Energy by 18.2% in the 1st quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 4,794 shares of the energy company’s stock worth $176,000 after purchasing an additional 737 shares during the period. Finally, Freedom Investment Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of Devon Energy by 7.0% in the first quarter. Freedom Investment Management Inc. now owns 9,091 shares of the energy company’s stock worth $340,000 after buying an additional 596 shares during the period. 69.72% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on DVN. Evercore ISI upped their price objective on Devon Energy from $34.00 to $37.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a research note on Monday, October 6th. BMO Capital Markets lowered their target price on shares of Devon Energy from $50.00 to $48.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Monday, December 15th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded Devon Energy from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and decreased their target price for the stock from $49.00 to $44.00 in a research report on Monday, December 8th. Mizuho upped their target price on Devon Energy from $40.00 to $43.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, December 12th. Finally, Morgan Stanley upped their target price on Devon Energy from $47.00 to $48.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, December 11th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-one have given a Buy rating, six have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Devon Energy presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $44.86.

Devon Energy Price Performance

Shares of NYSE DVN opened at $36.28 on Thursday. The stock has a market capitalization of $22.76 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.54, a PEG ratio of 2.76 and a beta of 0.62. Devon Energy Corporation has a 12 month low of $25.89 and a 12 month high of $38.88. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $35.02 and its 200-day simple moving average is $34.33. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.48, a current ratio of 0.96 and a quick ratio of 0.87.

Devon Energy (NYSE:DVN) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, November 5th. The energy company reported $1.04 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.93 by $0.11. The firm had revenue of $0.00 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.10 billion. Devon Energy had a return on equity of 18.14% and a net margin of 15.56%.During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.10 earnings per share. Analysts expect that Devon Energy Corporation will post 4.85 EPS for the current year.

Devon Energy Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 30th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 15th will be paid a dividend of $0.24 per share. This represents a $0.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.6%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, December 15th. Devon Energy’s dividend payout ratio is 22.59%.

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.