Franklin Resources Inc. Trims Stake in EOG Resources, Inc. (NYSE:EOG)

Franklin Resources Inc. lessened its position in shares of EOG Resources, Inc. (NYSE:EOG) by 3.8% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 5,081,215 shares of the energy exploration company’s stock after selling 203,013 shares during the quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. owned about 0.90% of EOG Resources worth $622,855,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in EOG. Financial Life Planners purchased a new stake in shares of EOG Resources in the fourth quarter valued at about $25,000. Y.D. More Investments Ltd raised its stake in EOG Resources by 149.4% during the 4th quarter. Y.D. More Investments Ltd now owns 202 shares of the energy exploration company’s stock valued at $25,000 after acquiring an additional 121 shares during the last quarter. Mainstream Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in EOG Resources during the 4th quarter worth approximately $25,000. Decker Retirement Planning Inc. purchased a new position in shares of EOG Resources in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Finally, Keystone Financial Group Inc. acquired a new position in shares of EOG Resources in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 89.91% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on the company. Royal Bank of Canada raised EOG Resources from a “sector perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and increased their price target for the stock from $150.00 to $155.00 in a report on Wednesday, February 12th. Piper Sandler lowered their target price on shares of EOG Resources from $141.00 to $135.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, March 6th. Raymond James boosted their price target on shares of EOG Resources from $167.00 to $175.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. UBS Group reduced their price objective on shares of EOG Resources from $165.00 to $160.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, March 4th. Finally, Williams Trading set a $154.00 target price on EOG Resources in a research report on Wednesday, March 5th. Thirteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, EOG Resources presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $144.67.

EOG Resources Price Performance

Shares of NYSE EOG opened at $128.44 on Tuesday. The company has a current ratio of 2.31, a quick ratio of 2.07 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $128.06 and its 200 day moving average price is $127.85. EOG Resources, Inc. has a 52 week low of $115.78 and a 52 week high of $139.67. The stock has a market cap of $71.15 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.34, a PEG ratio of 3.58 and a beta of 1.25.

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 company had revenue of $5.59 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.96 billion. As a group, research analysts forecast that EOG Resources, Inc. will post 11.47 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

EOG Resources Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 30th. Shareholders 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 3.04%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, April 16th. EOG Resources’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 34.73%.

EOG Resources Company Profile

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.