Legal & General Group Plc Takes Position in Northern Oil and Gas, Inc. $NOG

Legal & General Group Plc purchased a new position in Northern Oil and Gas, Inc. (NYSE:NOG) in the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund purchased 254,153 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,613,000.

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of NOG. Kennedy Capital Management LLC lifted its position in Northern Oil and Gas by 17.0% in the 4th quarter. Kennedy Capital Management LLC now owns 884,006 shares of the company’s stock valued at $18,980,000 after acquiring an additional 128,545 shares in the last quarter. Easterly Investment Partners LLC raised its stake in shares of Northern Oil and Gas by 32.7% in the fourth quarter. Easterly Investment Partners LLC now owns 187,146 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,018,000 after purchasing an additional 46,136 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Northern Oil and Gas by 1.3% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 10,873,455 shares of the company’s stock worth $233,453,000 after purchasing an additional 141,499 shares during the last quarter. Collar Capital Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Northern Oil and Gas during the fourth quarter valued at $2,877,000. Finally, Bank of America Corp DE lifted its holdings in shares of Northern Oil and Gas by 18.5% during the first quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 1,245,639 shares of the company’s stock valued at $36,410,000 after purchasing an additional 194,861 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 98.80% of the company’s stock.

Northern Oil and Gas Stock Down 2.9%

NOG stock opened at $25.82 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $2.75 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -4.98 and a beta of 0.73. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.37, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a current ratio of 0.80. The business’s 50-day moving average is $22.10 and its two-hundred day moving average is $24.20. Northern Oil and Gas, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $17.18 and a fifty-two week high of $31.17.

Northern Oil and Gas (NYSE:NOG) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 6th. The company reported $1.13 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.18 by ($0.05). Northern Oil and Gas had a negative net margin of 25.35% and a positive return on equity of 18.69%. The firm had revenue of $745.24 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $594.09 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.37 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.4% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts forecast that Northern Oil and Gas, Inc. will post 3.79 earnings per share for the current year.

Northern Oil and Gas Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, October 30th. Investors of record on Tuesday, September 29th will be given a dividend of $0.45 per share. This represents a $1.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 7.0%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, September 29th. Northern Oil and Gas’s payout ratio is -34.75%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

NOG has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Weiss Ratings raised Northern Oil and Gas from a “sell (d)” rating to a “sell (d+)” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 11th. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Northern Oil and Gas from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, August 15th. Morgan Stanley set a $25.00 price objective on shares of Northern Oil and Gas and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a report on Monday, June 29th. Raymond James Financial restated an “outperform” rating and set a $28.00 price objective on shares of Northern Oil and Gas in a research report on Wednesday, July 15th. Finally, Citigroup dropped their target price on shares of Northern Oil and Gas from $36.00 to $28.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, July 20th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have issued a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $30.62.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Northern Oil and Gas news, Director Bahram Akradi bought 25,760 shares of Northern Oil and Gas stock in a transaction on Monday, June 22nd. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $19.40 per share, with a total value of $499,744.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director owned 1,713,444 shares in the company, valued at approximately $33,240,813.60. This represents a 1.53% increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 2.80% of the company’s stock.

About Northern Oil and Gas

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.