EOG Resources, Inc. (EOG) to Issue Quarterly Dividend of $0.98 on January 31st

EOG Resources, Inc. (NYSE:EOG) announced a quarterly dividend on Thursday, November 7th,RTT News reports. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 17th will be given a dividend of 0.975 per share by the energy exploration company on Friday, January 31st. This represents a $3.90 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.87%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 17th. This is a boost from EOG Resources’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.91.

EOG Resources has increased its dividend by an average of 31.2% per year over the last three years. EOG Resources has a payout ratio of 32.1% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Research analysts expect EOG Resources to earn $11.20 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $3.90 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 34.8%.

EOG Resources Trading Up 1.1 %

EOG opened at $135.91 on Wednesday. The stock has a market cap of $76.44 billion, a PE ratio of 10.94, a PEG ratio of 3.37 and a beta of 1.29. The business has a 50 day moving average of $128.48 and a 200-day moving average of $126.84. EOG Resources has a 52 week low of $108.94 and a 52 week high of $139.67. The company has a quick ratio of 2.07, a current ratio of 2.31 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13.

EOG Resources announced that its board has authorized a share buyback program on Thursday, November 7th that allows the company to repurchase $5.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the energy exploration company to repurchase up to 7% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are generally a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling at EOG Resources

In other news, Director Janet F. Clark sold 568 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, November 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $135.33, for a total value of $76,867.44. Following the transaction, the director now owns 43,532 shares in the company, valued at $5,891,185.56. This represents a 1.29 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, COO Jeffrey R. Leitzell sold 4,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, December 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $120.89, for a total transaction of $483,560.00. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 42,703 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,162,365.67. This trade represents a 8.56 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.30% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts recently commented on EOG shares. Mizuho dropped their price objective on shares of EOG Resources from $156.00 to $148.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, December 16th. Citigroup upped their price target on EOG Resources from $127.00 to $134.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 26th. Scotiabank lowered their price objective on EOG Resources from $150.00 to $140.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, October 10th. Bank of America reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $144.00 target price (down from $151.00) on shares of EOG Resources in a research note on Monday. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed a “sector perform” rating and issued a $150.00 price target on shares of EOG Resources in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Thirteen analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $143.48.

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.