PDC Energy (NASDAQ:PDCE) Shares Gap Down on Insider Selling

PDC Energy, Inc. (NASDAQ:PDCE – Get Rating)’s share price gapped down prior to trading on Thursday after an insider sold shares in the company. The stock had previously closed at $58.30, but opened at $56.22. PDC Energy shares last traded at $58.99, with a volume of 100,312 shares trading hands.

Specifically, CFO R Scott Meyers sold 2,500 shares of PDC Energy stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $60.00, for a total transaction of $150,000.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 164,910 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $9,894,600. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In related news, CEO Barton R. Brookman, Jr. sold 2,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $67.08, for a total value of $134,160.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 548,228 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $36,775,134.24. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CFO R Scott Meyers sold 2,500 shares of PDC Energy stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $60.00, for a total transaction of $150,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 164,910 shares in the company, valued at $9,894,600. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 16,000 shares of company stock valued at $1,045,995. Company insiders own 1.20% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on the stock. Truist Financial lowered shares of PDC Energy from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $68.00 price target on the stock. in a research note on Monday, December 12th. Mizuho lowered their price target on shares of PDC Energy from $97.00 to $93.00 in a research note on Friday, March 10th. StockNews.com assumed coverage on shares of PDC Energy in a research note on Thursday. They issued a “hold” rating on the stock. Finally, Roth Capital restated a “buy” rating on shares of PDC Energy in a research note on Friday, February 17th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $83.33.

PDC Energy Stock Down 3.6 %

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33, a quick ratio of 0.42 and a current ratio of 0.42. The stock has a market cap of $5.12 billion, a P/E ratio of 3.13, a P/E/G ratio of 0.12 and a beta of 2.54. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $65.73 and its 200-day simple moving average is $66.78.

PDC Energy (NASDAQ:PDCE – Get Rating) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 22nd. The energy producer reported $3.22 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.05 by $0.17. PDC Energy had a net margin of 46.24% and a return on equity of 42.84%. The company had revenue of $879.50 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $892.11 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $2.86 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 41.8% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts forecast that PDC Energy, Inc. will post 14.01 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

PDC Energy Cuts Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 16th. Investors of record on Thursday, March 2nd were paid a $0.40 dividend. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.76%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, March 1st. PDC Energy’s payout ratio is 8.65%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On PDC Energy

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in PDCE. Millennium Management LLC lifted its stake in PDC Energy by 732.8% in the 2nd quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 1,887,582 shares of the energy producer’s stock valued at $116,294,000 after purchasing an additional 1,660,926 shares during the last quarter. First Trust Advisors LP increased its position in PDC Energy by 81.4% in the 4th quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 2,344,684 shares of the energy producer’s stock valued at $148,841,000 after acquiring an additional 1,052,454 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. increased its position in PDC Energy by 133.0% in the 1st quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 1,487,666 shares of the energy producer’s stock valued at $108,123,000 after acquiring an additional 849,289 shares during the period. FMR LLC increased its position in PDC Energy by 14.9% in the 2nd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 5,805,913 shares of the energy producer’s stock valued at $357,703,000 after acquiring an additional 753,500 shares during the period. Finally, UBS Group AG increased its position in PDC Energy by 426.4% in the 2nd quarter. UBS Group AG now owns 818,091 shares of the energy producer’s stock valued at $50,403,000 after acquiring an additional 662,688 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 96.16% of the company’s stock.

About PDC Energy

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PDC Energy, Inc engages in the exploration and production of oil and natural gas. The firm acquires, explores, and develops properties for the production of crude oil, natural gas, and natural gas liquids. Its primary operations are located in the Wattenberg Field in Colorado and the Delaware Basin in Texas.