Vermilion Energy Inc. (NYSE:VET) Receives Consensus Recommendation of “Hold” from Analysts

Vermilion Energy Inc. (NYSE:VET) (TSE:VET) has received a consensus recommendation of “Hold” from the eight ratings firms that are presently covering the stock, MarketBeat reports. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, five have assigned a hold recommendation, one has given a buy recommendation and one has assigned a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average twelve-month price target among brokerages that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $15.00.

VET has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. TD Securities restated a “hold” rating on shares of Vermilion Energy in a research note on Thursday, March 5th. Zacks Research upgraded Vermilion Energy from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 10th. BMO Capital Markets reissued a “market perform” rating on shares of Vermilion Energy in a report on Thursday, December 11th. Weiss Ratings restated a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Vermilion Energy in a research report on Wednesday, January 21st. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada upped their price target on shares of Vermilion Energy from $14.00 to $15.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 5th.

Vermilion Energy Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:VET opened at $13.05 on Tuesday. Vermilion Energy has a 52 week low of $5.14 and a 52 week high of $14.82. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $10.54 and a 200 day moving average price of $9.00. The company has a market cap of $1.99 billion, a P/E ratio of -4.26 and a beta of 0.61. The company has a quick ratio of 0.76, a current ratio of 0.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.58.

Vermilion Energy (NYSE:VET) (TSE:VET) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, March 4th. The oil and gas company reported $0.63 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.30 by $0.33. The company had revenue of $334.64 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $384.74 million. Vermilion Energy had a positive return on equity of 3.80% and a negative net margin of 34.30%. Research analysts predict that Vermilion Energy will post 0.22 earnings per share for the current year.

Vermilion Energy Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, March 31st. Investors of record on Friday, March 13th will be issued a dividend of $0.135 per share. This is an increase from Vermilion Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.13. This represents a $0.54 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.1%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 13th. Vermilion Energy’s payout ratio is presently -13.07%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Millennium Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Vermilion Energy by 4.6% during the 3rd quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 8,214,261 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $64,161,000 after acquiring an additional 359,878 shares in the last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. increased its stake in Vermilion Energy by 22.7% in the 3rd quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 7,512,118 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $58,745,000 after purchasing an additional 1,388,489 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in Vermilion Energy by 1.1% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 6,731,403 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $56,005,000 after purchasing an additional 73,242 shares in the last quarter. UBS Group AG raised its holdings in Vermilion Energy by 118.2% during the fourth quarter. UBS Group AG now owns 5,592,890 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $46,645,000 after purchasing an additional 3,029,328 shares during the last quarter. Finally, American Century Companies Inc. raised its holdings in Vermilion Energy by 19.5% during the third quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 3,863,101 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $30,173,000 after purchasing an additional 631,655 shares during the last quarter. 31.91% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Vermilion Energy Company Profile

Vermilion Energy Inc is a Canadian-based international oil and gas producer headquartered in Calgary, Alberta. Established in 1994, the company focuses on the exploration, development and production of crude oil and natural gas reserves through its wholly owned and joint venture assets. Vermilion’s upstream operations target a balance of oil and gas projects across various regions, with an emphasis on high-quality resource plays that can deliver stable cash flow and long-term reserves replacement.

Vermilion’s product portfolio includes light and medium crude oil, heavy oil, natural gas and natural gas liquids (NGLs).