PDC Energy, Inc. (NASDAQ: PDCE) was the target of unusually large option trades on Friday. Investors bought 2,579 call options on the company. This is an increase of 534% over the typical daily volume of 407 call options.

PDCE stock traded down $ 0.25 in Friday’s session, reaching $ 48.78. The stock had a trade volume of 521,204 shares, compared to its average volume of 934,867. PDC Energy has a one-year low of $ 20.09 and a one-year high of $ 59.00. The company has a current ratio of 0.46, a quick ratio of 0.46, and a debt ratio of 0.49. The company has a market cap of $ 4.75 billion, a P / E ratio of 119.59 and a beta of 3.20. The company has a fifty-day moving average price of $ 52.17 and a 200-day moving average price of $ 46.55.

PDC Energy (NASDAQ: PDCE) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, November 3. The power producer reported EPS of $ 2.33 for the quarter, beating analyst consensus estimates of $ 1.45 by $ 0.88. The company posted revenue of $ 704.04 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ estimates of $ 565.58 million. PDC Energy had a net margin of 3.33% and a return on equity of 25.49%. In the same quarter of the previous year, the company posted EPS of $ 1.04. Sell-side analysts predict that PDC Energy will post 7.84 EPS for the current year.

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, December 29. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 17 received a dividend of $ 0.12. This represents an annualized dividend of $ 0.48 and a dividend yield of 0.98%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, December 16. PDC Energy’s payout ratio is currently 117.07%.

In other news from PDC Energy, Senior Vice President Nicole L. Martinet sold 1,000 shares of the company in a trade on Tuesday, November 9. The stock was sold for an average price of $ 56.90, for a total value of $ 56,900.00. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available on the SEC’s website. In addition, director Lynn A. Peterson sold 5,000 shares of the company in a trade on Friday, October 15. The shares were sold for an average price of $ 51.06, for a total value of $ 255,300.00. Disclosure of this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 24,959 shares of the company valued at $ 1,313,054 in the past ninety days. Insiders own 0.97% of the shares of the company.

Several large investors have recently changed their positions in the stock. Segall Bryant & Hamill LLC increased its position in shares of PDC Energy by 15.9% during the 3rd quarter. Segall Bryant & Hamill LLC now owns 798,923 shares of the power producer valued at $ 37,861,000 after purchasing an additional 109,367 shares in the last quarter. Moors & Cabot Inc. acquired a new position in PDC Energy during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $ 26,000. Captrust Financial Advisors increased its stake in PDC Energy by 5.6% during the 3rd quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors now owns 5,020 shares of the power producer valued at $ 238,000 after purchasing an additional 265 shares during the period. BNP Paribas Arbitrage SA increased its stake in PDC Energy by 44.0% during the 3rd quarter. BNP Paribas Arbitrage SA now owns 106,058 energy producer shares valued at $ 5,026,000 after purchasing 32,413 additional shares during the period. Finally, Janus Henderson Group PLC acquired a new position in PDC Energy during the 3rd quarter for a value of approximately $ 477,000.

A number of brokerage firms have commented on the PDCE. Zacks Investment Research downgraded PDC Energy from a “buy” rating to a “keep” rating and set a price target of $ 48.00 for the company. in a research report on Friday, September 17. Truist Securities lowered its target price on PDC Energy from $ 67.00 to $ 63.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report released on Friday, October 1. Truist lowered its target price on PDC Energy from $ 67.00 to $ 63.00 and established a “buy” rating on the stock in a report released on Friday, October 1. Johnson Rice downgraded PDC Energy from a “buy” rating to an “accumulate” rating in a report released Thursday, October 28. Finally, TD Securities raised its price target on PDC Energy from $ 64.00 to $ 66.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 4. One stock research analyst rated the stock with a conservation rating and nine gave the stock a buy rating. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average “Buy” rating and a consensus price target of $ 54.78.

PDC Energy Company Profile

PDC Energy, Inc. is engaged in the exploration and production of petroleum and natural gas. The Company acquires, explores and develops properties for the production of crude oil, natural gas and natural gas liquids. Its main operations are located in the Wattenberg field in Colorado and in the Delaware basin in Texas.

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