Diversified Energy Company PLC (NYSE:DEC) Stock Has Consensus Target Price of $22.50

Diversified Energy Company PLC (NYSE:DEC) has earned a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” from the ten brokerages that are covering the firm, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, seven have assigned a buy recommendation and one has issued a strong buy recommendation on the company. The average 1-year price target among analysts that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $22.00.

Several analysts have issued reports on DEC shares. Weiss Ratings raised shares of Diversified Energy from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 18th. Mizuho dropped their price objective on shares of Diversified Energy from $32.00 to $29.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday. Citigroup cut their price objective on Diversified Energy from $19.00 to $16.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, July 21st. Truist Financial increased their target price on Diversified Energy from $17.00 to $20.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 12th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group upgraded Diversified Energy to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, July 10th.

Institutional Trading of Diversified Energy

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Artemis Investment Management LLP grew its holdings in shares of Diversified Energy by 8.3% during the third quarter. Artemis Investment Management LLP now owns 6,148,058 shares of the company’s stock worth $82,383,000 after buying an additional 470,823 shares in the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its position in shares of Diversified Energy by 4.6% in the first quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 617,728 shares of the company’s stock valued at $10,773,000 after buying an additional 26,978 shares during the last quarter. First Trust Advisors LP purchased a new position in shares of Diversified Energy during the first quarter valued at approximately $10,546,000. Bank of America Corp DE lifted its stake in shares of Diversified Energy by 57.8% during the first quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 304,613 shares of the company’s stock valued at $5,312,000 after buying an additional 111,625 shares during the period. Finally, Walleye Capital LLC lifted its stake in shares of Diversified Energy by 275.1% during the first quarter. Walleye Capital LLC now owns 230,694 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,023,000 after buying an additional 169,198 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 26.51% of the company’s stock.

Diversified Energy Price Performance

Shares of NYSE DEC opened at $14.60 on Tuesday. Diversified Energy has a 52 week low of $12.35 and a 52 week high of $18.90. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $14.44 and its 200 day moving average price is $14.53. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.96, a current ratio of 0.57 and a quick ratio of 0.57.

Diversified Energy (NYSE:DEC) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, August 5th. The company reported ($0.29) earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.20 by ($0.49). The business had revenue of $442.30 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $492.98 million. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Diversified Energy will post 2.78 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Diversified Energy Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 31st. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, December 2nd will be issued a $0.29 dividend. This represents a $1.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 7.9%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, December 2nd. Diversified Energy’s payout ratio is 35.91%.

About Diversified Energy

Diversified Energy Company plc is an independent energy company that owns and operates a portfolio of mature, producing oil and natural gas wells in the United States. The company focuses on acquiring long-life conventional assets and managing them through their full operating lifecycle, with activities spanning production, maintenance, infrastructure management and well retirement.

The company’s operations are concentrated in established U.S. onshore producing regions, including the Appalachian, Central and Rockies areas.