Vermilion Energy (NYSE:VET) Shares Gap Up on Analyst Upgrade

Vermilion Energy Inc. (NYSE:VET) (TSE:VET)’s stock price gapped up before the market opened on Friday after ATB Cormark Capital Markets upgraded the stock from a hold rating to a moderate buy rating. The stock had previously closed at $13.29, but opened at $13.75. Vermilion Energy shares last traded at $13.8640, with a volume of 688,267 shares.

A number of other brokerages have also weighed in on VET. Weiss Ratings restated a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Vermilion Energy in a research report on Wednesday, January 21st. TD Securities reiterated a “hold” rating on shares of Vermilion Energy in a research report on Thursday, March 5th. Zacks Research raised Vermilion Energy from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 10th. BMO Capital Markets reaffirmed a “market perform” rating on shares of Vermilion Energy in a research note on Thursday, December 11th. Finally, Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Vermilion Energy from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Saturday, March 7th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, two have assigned a Buy rating, five have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $15.00.

Institutional Trading of Vermilion Energy

Institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. UBS Group AG increased its stake in Vermilion Energy by 118.2% in the fourth quarter. UBS Group AG now owns 5,592,890 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $46,645,000 after purchasing an additional 3,029,328 shares in the last quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp boosted its position in shares of Vermilion Energy by 130.2% during the 4th quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 3,174,261 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $26,483,000 after purchasing an additional 1,795,636 shares in the last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. grew its stake in shares of Vermilion Energy by 22.7% in the 3rd quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 7,512,118 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $58,745,000 after buying an additional 1,388,489 shares during the period. LM Asset Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of Vermilion Energy by 28.2% in the 4th quarter. LM Asset Management Inc. now owns 3,772,600 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $31,434,000 after buying an additional 830,600 shares during the period. Finally, American Century Companies Inc. increased its position in Vermilion Energy by 19.5% in the 3rd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 3,863,101 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $30,173,000 after buying an additional 631,655 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 31.91% of the company’s stock.

Vermilion Energy Price Performance

The company has a current ratio of 0.84, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.58. The business has a 50-day moving average of $10.93 and a 200 day moving average of $9.16. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.13 billion, a P/E ratio of -4.55 and a beta of 0.61.

Vermilion Energy (NYSE:VET) (TSE:VET) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, March 4th. The oil and gas company reported $0.63 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.30 by $0.33. Vermilion Energy had a positive return on equity of 3.80% and a negative net margin of 34.30%.The firm had revenue of $334.64 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $384.74 million. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Vermilion Energy Inc. will post 0.22 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Vermilion Energy Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, March 31st. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 13th will be issued a dividend of $0.135 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 13th. This is a positive change from Vermilion Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.13. This represents a $0.54 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.9%. Vermilion Energy’s dividend payout ratio is currently -12.75%.

Vermilion Energy Company Profile

Vermilion Energy Inc is a Canadian-based international oil and gas producer headquartered in Calgary, Alberta. Established in 1994, the company focuses on the exploration, development and production of crude oil and natural gas reserves through its wholly owned and joint venture assets. Vermilion’s upstream operations target a balance of oil and gas projects across various regions, with an emphasis on high-quality resource plays that can deliver stable cash flow and long-term reserves replacement.

Vermilion’s product portfolio includes light and medium crude oil, heavy oil, natural gas and natural gas liquids (NGLs).