Scotiabank Raises Pioneer Natural Resources (NYSE:PXD) Price Target to $282.00

Pioneer Natural Resources (NYSE:PXD) had its price target lifted by Scotiabank from $230.00 to $282.00 in a research report released on Thursday, Benzinga reports. The firm currently has a sector perform rating on the oil and gas development company’s stock.

Several other research analysts also recently weighed in on the stock. Mizuho increased their price target on shares of Pioneer Natural Resources from $276.00 to $290.00 and gave the stock a neutral rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 19th. Stifel Nicolaus cut their price target on Pioneer Natural Resources from $243.00 to $224.00 and set a hold rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, January 23rd. Susquehanna raised their price objective on Pioneer Natural Resources from $237.00 to $246.00 and gave the stock a neutral rating in a research note on Monday, March 4th. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed a sector perform rating and set a $279.00 price objective on shares of Pioneer Natural Resources in a research report on Thursday. Finally, StockNews.com initiated coverage on shares of Pioneer Natural Resources in a report on Friday, April 5th. They issued a hold rating for the company. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, sixteen have issued a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of Hold and an average target price of $259.00.

Pioneer Natural Resources Price Performance

Shares of PXD opened at $270.80 on Thursday. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $246.65 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $236.95. The firm has a market cap of $63.26 billion, a PE ratio of 13.38 and a beta of 1.31. The company has a current ratio of 0.88, a quick ratio of 0.72 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21. Pioneer Natural Resources has a 1-year low of $196.74 and a 1-year high of $278.83.

Pioneer Natural Resources (NYSE:PXD) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 22nd. The oil and gas development company reported $5.28 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.41 by ($0.13). The firm had revenue of $5.22 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.28 billion. Pioneer Natural Resources had a net margin of 25.28% and a return on equity of 22.42%. The firm’s revenue was up 2.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $5.91 EPS. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Pioneer Natural Resources will post 20.88 EPS for the current year.

Pioneer Natural Resources Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 22nd. Investors of record on Monday, March 4th were paid a dividend of $2.56 per share. This represents a $10.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.78%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 1st. Pioneer Natural Resources’s payout ratio is 24.70%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Pioneer Natural Resources

In other news, EVP Mark H. Kleinman sold 3,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $234.35, for a total transaction of $820,225.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 49,856 shares in the company, valued at approximately $11,683,753.60. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. In related news, EVP Mark H. Kleinman sold 3,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $234.35, for a total value of $820,225.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 49,856 shares in the company, valued at $11,683,753.60. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Scott D. Sheffield sold 10,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $235.25, for a total transaction of $2,352,500.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 462,112 shares in the company, valued at approximately $108,711,848. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 36,766 shares of company stock worth $9,067,373 over the last 90 days. 0.57% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Pioneer Natural Resources by 1.2% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 20,256,685 shares of the oil and gas development company’s stock valued at $4,555,323,000 after buying an additional 240,934 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Pioneer Natural Resources by 3.6% in the first quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 4,337,964 shares of the oil and gas development company’s stock worth $884,893,000 after purchasing an additional 149,026 shares during the last quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Pioneer Natural Resources by 46.4% in the fourth quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. now owns 4,242,203 shares of the oil and gas development company’s stock worth $968,877,000 after purchasing an additional 1,343,601 shares during the last quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC increased its stake in Pioneer Natural Resources by 7.6% in the 3rd quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC now owns 3,259,731 shares of the oil and gas development company’s stock worth $748,271,000 after buying an additional 231,470 shares during the period. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its holdings in Pioneer Natural Resources by 25.7% during the 3rd quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 3,239,964 shares of the oil and gas development company’s stock valued at $743,734,000 after buying an additional 662,891 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.57% of the company’s stock.

Pioneer Natural Resources Company Profile

Pioneer Natural Resources Company operates as an independent oil and gas exploration and production company in the United States. The company explores for, develops, and produces oil, natural gas liquids (NGLs), and gas. It has operations in the Midland Basin in West Texas. The company was founded in 1997 and is headquartered in Irving, Texas.