Morgan Stanley Cuts EOG Resources (NYSE:EOG) Price Target to $142.00

EOG Resources (NYSE:EOG) had its price target decreased by Morgan Stanley from $143.00 to $142.00 in a research report released on Monday,Benzinga reports. Morgan Stanley currently has an equal weight rating on the energy exploration company’s stock.

Several other brokerages also recently issued reports on EOG. Raymond James lifted their price target on shares of EOG Resources from $167.00 to $175.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. StockNews.com downgraded shares of EOG Resources from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, February 21st. Truist Financial raised their price objective on shares of EOG Resources from $135.00 to $137.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, January 13th. Barclays lowered their price objective on shares of EOG Resources from $148.00 to $146.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, February 28th. Finally, Citigroup raised their price objective on shares of EOG Resources from $127.00 to $134.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 26th. Twelve equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $146.10.

EOG Resources Price Performance

NYSE:EOG opened at $122.15 on Monday. EOG Resources has a 52 week low of $115.57 and a 52 week high of $139.67. The company has a market capitalization of $68.70 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.83, a PEG ratio of 3.58 and a beta of 1.27. The company has a 50-day moving average of $129.36 and a 200-day moving average of $127.76. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13, a quick ratio of 2.07 and a current ratio of 2.31.

EOG Resources (NYSE:EOG) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Friday, February 28th. The energy exploration company reported $2.74 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.55 by $0.19. EOG Resources had a net margin of 29.18% and a return on equity of 23.77%. The firm had revenue of $5.59 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.96 billion. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that EOG Resources will post 11.47 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

EOG Resources Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 30th. Investors of record on Wednesday, April 16th will be issued a dividend of $0.975 per share. This represents a $3.90 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.19%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, April 16th. EOG Resources’s dividend payout ratio is currently 34.73%.

EOG Resources declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a share buyback plan on Thursday, November 7th that permits the company to buyback $5.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization permits the energy exploration company to reacquire up to 7% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are typically an indication that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Activity at EOG Resources

In other EOG Resources news, COO Jeffrey R. Leitzell sold 4,000 shares of EOG Resources stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, December 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $120.89, for a total value of $483,560.00. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 42,703 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,162,365.67. The trade was a 8.56 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 0.30% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of EOG. Wealthfront Advisers LLC lifted its stake in EOG Resources by 4,642.2% in the fourth quarter. Wealthfront Advisers LLC now owns 2,852,238 shares of the energy exploration company’s stock valued at $349,627,000 after buying an additional 2,792,092 shares in the last quarter. Capital World Investors lifted its stake in EOG Resources by 5.2% in the fourth quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 45,919,327 shares of the energy exploration company’s stock valued at $5,628,497,000 after buying an additional 2,270,013 shares in the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its stake in EOG Resources by 64.7% in the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 5,284,228 shares of the energy exploration company’s stock valued at $694,717,000 after buying an additional 2,076,134 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new position in EOG Resources in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $171,193,000. Finally, Fisher Asset Management LLC lifted its stake in EOG Resources by 856.7% in the third quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 1,200,851 shares of the energy exploration company’s stock valued at $147,621,000 after buying an additional 1,075,334 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 89.91% of the company’s stock.

About EOG Resources

EOG Resources, Inc, together with its subsidiaries, explores for, develops, produces, and markets crude oil, natural gas liquids, and natural gas primarily in producing basins in the United States, the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago and internationally. The company was formerly known as Enron Oil & Gas Company.