Northern Oil and Gas (NYSE:NOG) Shares Gap Up – Still a Buy?

Northern Oil and Gas, Inc. (NYSE:NOG)’s stock price gapped up prior to trading on Monday . The stock had previously closed at $18.52, but opened at $19.27. Northern Oil and Gas shares last traded at $19.3220, with a volume of 417,447 shares.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Johnson Rice downgraded shares of Northern Oil and Gas from an “accumulate” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $36.00 price objective on the stock. in a research note on Wednesday, May 20th. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Northern Oil and Gas from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, June 27th. Morgan Stanley set a $25.00 target price on Northern Oil and Gas and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a report on Monday, June 29th. Raymond James Financial set a $30.00 target price on Northern Oil and Gas and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, June 15th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada lifted their price target on Northern Oil and Gas from $30.00 to $35.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 8th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have given a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $31.88.

Northern Oil and Gas Trading Down 0.9%

The company has a current ratio of 0.53, a quick ratio of 0.53 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.43. The firm has a market cap of $2.19 billion, a PE ratio of -3.17 and a beta of 0.69. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $21.09 and a 200 day simple moving average of $24.16.

Northern Oil and Gas (NYSE:NOG) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, April 28th. The company reported $0.74 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.71 by $0.03. Northern Oil and Gas had a negative net margin of 33.17% and a positive return on equity of 18.43%. The business had revenue of $5.03 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $511.38 million. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $1.33 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 6.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Northern Oil and Gas, Inc. will post 3.22 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Northern Oil and Gas Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, July 31st. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 29th will be paid a $0.45 dividend. This represents a $1.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 8.9%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 29th. Northern Oil and Gas’s dividend payout ratio is -28.26%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Bahram Akradi bought 25,760 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 22nd. The stock was purchased at an average price of $19.40 per share, for a total transaction of $499,744.00. Following the acquisition, the director owned 1,713,444 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $33,240,813.60. This trade represents a 1.53% increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 2.80% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in NOG. Doliver Advisors LP grew its position in shares of Northern Oil and Gas by 6.1% during the second quarter. Doliver Advisors LP now owns 37,346 shares of the company’s stock worth $678,000 after buying an additional 2,155 shares in the last quarter. Byrne Asset Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Northern Oil and Gas by 10,630.0% in the 2nd quarter. Byrne Asset Management LLC now owns 10,730 shares of the company’s stock valued at $195,000 after purchasing an additional 10,630 shares in the last quarter. Epiq Partners LLC raised its holdings in shares of Northern Oil and Gas by 1.2% in the 2nd quarter. Epiq Partners LLC now owns 66,452 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,206,000 after purchasing an additional 764 shares in the last quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Northern Oil and Gas by 1,621.9% during the 1st quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 18,114 shares of the company’s stock worth $529,000 after purchasing an additional 17,062 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bank of America Corp DE lifted its position in shares of Northern Oil and Gas by 18.5% during the 1st quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 1,245,639 shares of the company’s stock worth $36,410,000 after purchasing an additional 194,861 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 98.80% of the company’s stock.

Northern Oil and Gas Company Profile

Northern Oil and Gas, Inc is a publicly traded independent energy company focused on the acquisition, exploration and development of oil and natural gas resources in the United States. The company’s primary operations are concentrated in the Williston Basin, where it secures acreage positions and partners with drilling operators to advance upstream projects. Through strategic leasehold acquisitions and joint ventures, Northern Oil and Gas seeks to expand its footprint in both conventional and unconventional reservoirs.

Northern Oil and Gas employs horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing technologies to develop unconventional resource plays, particularly in the Bakken, Three Forks and Red River formations of North Dakota and Montana.