LINN Energy Announces Assets Acquisition

LINN Energy and LinnCo announced that LINN will acquire assets in five U.S. operating areas from Devon Energy Corporation for $2.3 billion. The assets are currently producing approximately 275 MMcfe/d, approximately 80 percent of which is natural gas, with a shallow base decline of approximately 14 percent.

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Total proved reserves are estimated to be between 1.3-1.5 Tcfe (approximately 75 percent PDP) with total resource potential of approximately 3 Tcfe. The asset package is comprised of approximately 900,000 net acres across the Rockies, Mid-Continent, east Texas, north Louisiana and south Texas regions with approximately 4,500 total wells. LINN has identified over 1,000 future drilling locations and over 600 recompletion opportunities. LINN's acquisition of Devon assets is intended to be financed ultimately through the sale of its Granite Wash assets and other non-producing acreage in LINN's portfolio. Potential excess proceeds from the sale of assets, if any, will be used initially to reduce debt and for general corporate purposes.

Linn Energy (NASD: LINE) is a Top 10 dividend paying energy stock, according to Dividend Channel.  Among energy companies, LINE shares display both attractive valuation metrics and strong profitability metrics. For example, the recent LINE share price of $31.89 represents a price-to-book ratio of 1.9 and an annual dividend yield of 9.10% — by comparison, the average energy stock in Dividend Channel's coverage universe yields 4.5% and trades at a price-to-book ratio of 2.8. DividendChannel also notes the strong monthly dividend history at Linn Energy LLC , and favorable long-term multi-year growth rates in key fundamental data points.

The annualized dividend paid by Linn Energy LLC is $2.8992/share, currently paid in monthly installments, and its most recent dividend ex-date was on 06/05/2014. Below is a long-term dividend history chart for LINE, which Dividend Channel stressed as being of key importance. Indeed, studying a company's past dividend history can be of good help in judging whether the most recent dividend is likely to continue.