VAALCO Energy, Inc. (NYSE:EGY) Short Interest Update

VAALCO Energy, Inc. (NYSE:EGY) was the recipient of a significant decrease in short interest in December. As of December 31st, there was short interest totalling 4,210,000 shares, a decrease of 8.5% from the December 15th total of 4,600,000 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 912,900 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 4.6 days.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Separately, StockNews.com cut shares of VAALCO Energy from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 19th.

Institutional Trading of VAALCO Energy

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its holdings in VAALCO Energy by 7,129.3% in the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 895,210 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at $5,613,000 after purchasing an additional 882,827 shares during the last quarter. Foundry Partners LLC lifted its holdings in shares of VAALCO Energy by 156.8% in the 3rd quarter. Foundry Partners LLC now owns 1,200,474 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at $6,891,000 after buying an additional 733,084 shares during the period. American Century Companies Inc. boosted its stake in shares of VAALCO Energy by 33.2% in the second quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 2,813,832 shares of the energy company’s stock worth $17,643,000 after buying an additional 701,568 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its holdings in VAALCO Energy by 66.9% during the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 962,824 shares of the energy company’s stock worth $5,527,000 after acquiring an additional 386,071 shares during the period. Finally, Segall Bryant & Hamill LLC purchased a new position in VAALCO Energy during the third quarter valued at approximately $1,676,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 50.32% of the company’s stock.

VAALCO Energy Price Performance

NYSE EGY opened at $4.55 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $471.50 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 5.35 and a beta of 1.19. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14, a current ratio of 1.34 and a quick ratio of 1.32. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $4.78 and its 200 day moving average price is $5.68. VAALCO Energy has a 1 year low of $4.03 and a 1 year high of $7.51.

VAALCO Energy (NYSE:EGY) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Monday, November 11th. The energy company reported $0.08 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.12 by ($0.04). VAALCO Energy had a net margin of 17.93% and a return on equity of 15.63%. The firm had revenue of $140.33 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $128.64 million. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.07 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that VAALCO Energy will post 0.43 earnings per share for the current year.

VAALCO Energy Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 20th. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 22nd were paid a dividend of $0.0625 per share. This represents a $0.25 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.50%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, November 22nd. VAALCO Energy’s payout ratio is 29.41%.

About VAALCO Energy

VAALCO Energy, Inc, an independent energy company, engages in the acquisition, exploration, development, and production of crude oil, natural gas, and natural gas liquids in Gabon, Egypt, Equatorial Guinea, and Canada. The company holds 58.8% interest in the Etame production sharing contract related to the Etame Marin block covering an area of approximately 46,200 gross acres located offshore in the Republic of Gabon in West Africa.