Lazard Freres Gestion S.A.S. Has $25.55 Million Stake in EOG Resources, Inc. (NYSE:EOG)

Lazard Freres Gestion S.A.S. trimmed its stake in shares of EOG Resources, Inc. (NYSE:EOG) by 15.5% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 208,432 shares of the energy exploration company’s stock after selling 38,137 shares during the period. Lazard Freres Gestion S.A.S.’s holdings in EOG Resources were worth $25,549,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Erste Asset Management GmbH acquired a new stake in EOG Resources in the 4th quarter valued at $990,000. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. increased its stake in EOG Resources by 73.4% in the 4th quarter. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. now owns 151,669 shares of the energy exploration company’s stock valued at $18,592,000 after buying an additional 64,201 shares during the last quarter. Essential Planning LLC. acquired a new stake in EOG Resources in the 4th quarter valued at $1,660,000. Wealthfront Advisers LLC increased its stake in EOG Resources by 4,642.2% in the 4th 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 during the last quarter. Finally, Cooke & Bieler LP increased its stake in EOG Resources by 1.7% in the 4th quarter. Cooke & Bieler LP now owns 625,679 shares of the energy exploration company’s stock valued at $76,696,000 after buying an additional 10,256 shares during the last quarter. 89.91% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on EOG shares. Wolfe Research upgraded shares of EOG Resources from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $143.00 price target on the stock in a research note on Friday, January 3rd. Wells Fargo & Company upgraded shares of EOG Resources from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and lifted their price target for the company from $147.00 to $150.00 in a research note on Tuesday, December 17th. Williams Trading set a $154.00 price target on shares of EOG Resources in a research note on Wednesday, March 5th. Bank of America reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $144.00 price objective (down previously from $151.00) on shares of EOG Resources in a research report on Monday, January 13th. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded shares of EOG Resources from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, February 21st. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have given a hold rating, nine have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $146.19.

EOG Resources Price Performance

Shares of EOG Resources stock opened at $124.18 on Thursday. EOG Resources, Inc. has a twelve month low of $115.78 and a twelve month 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. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $129.67 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $127.70. The stock has a market capitalization of $68.78 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.00, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.58 and a beta of 1.25.

EOG Resources (NYSE:EOG) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Friday, February 28th. The energy exploration company reported $2.74 earnings per share for the quarter, topping 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 business had revenue of $5.59 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.96 billion. Analysts forecast that EOG Resources, Inc. will post 11.47 EPS for the current year.

EOG Resources Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 30th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, April 16th will be paid a $0.975 dividend. This represents a $3.90 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.14%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, April 16th. EOG Resources’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 34.73%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

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

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.