The analysts wrote, ?Over the past month, PDC shares have risen 20%+ driven by investor enthusiasm as to the company?s Utica Shale leasehold in Ohio. As a consequence, PDC shares approximate our $34 target price and accordingly we are downgrading PDCE from a Buy to HOLD rating?PDC has ~45,000 net acres prospective in the Ohio Utica Shale. About 25% of acreage is in southern Guernsey and northern Noble Counties and ~75% is in southern Noble, eastern Morgan and northern Washington, Counties. Limited petrophysical/well data suggest the volatile/movable oil content (i.e., productivity) of the Point Pleasant formation across the southern ~75% of PDC?s Utica leasehold is highly uncertain.? Shares of PDC Energy traded down 3.29% during mid-day trading on Wednesday, hitting $33.77. PDC Energy has a 52 week low of $19.33 and a 52 week high of $40.26. The company?s market cap is $998.5 million.
PDC Energy last announced its earnings results on Thursday, November 1st. The company reported ($0.16) EPS for the quarter, missing the Thomson Reuters consensus estimate of ($0.08) by $0.08. On average, analysts predict that PDC Energy will post $-0.16 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.
Several other analysts have also recently commented on the stock. Analysts at Global Hunter Securities downgraded shares of PDC Energy from a ?buy? rating to an ?accumulate? rating in a research note to investors on Wednesday, December 12th. They now have a $37.00 price target on the stock, up previously from $35.00. Separately, analysts at Howard Weil initiated coverage on shares of PDC Energy in a research note to investors on Tuesday, December 11th. They set a ?market perform? rating and a $45.00 price target on the stock. Finally, analysts at SunTrust raised their price target on shares of PDC Energy from $37.00 to $43.00 in a research note to investors on Friday, November 30th. They now have a ?buy? rating on the stock.
PDC Energy, Inc., formerly Petroleum Development Corporation, doing business as PDC Energy, is a domestic independent exploration and production company, which acquires, develops, explores, and produces natural gas, natural gas liquids (NGLs), and crude oil.