California Resources (NYSE:CRC) Raised to “Hold” at StockNews.com

StockNews.com upgraded shares of California Resources (NYSE:CRC) from a sell rating to a hold rating in a report issued on Saturday.

CRC has been the topic of a number of other research reports. UBS Group started coverage on California Resources in a research report on Wednesday, October 16th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $68.00 price target on the stock. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $65.00 price target on shares of California Resources in a report on Monday, August 12th. TD Cowen began coverage on shares of California Resources in a research note on Friday, August 2nd. They issued a “buy” rating and a $65.00 price objective on the stock. Stephens started coverage on California Resources in a research note on Tuesday, October 22nd. They set an “overweight” rating and a $73.00 target price for the company. Finally, Citigroup lifted their price target on California Resources from $63.00 to $65.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 5th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $65.50.

California Resources Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:CRC opened at $56.57 on Friday. California Resources has a 12-month low of $43.09 and a 12-month high of $60.41. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $52.87 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $50.86. The firm has a market cap of $3.84 billion, a PE ratio of 8.91, a PEG ratio of 1.40 and a beta of 0.98. The company has a quick ratio of 0.89, a current ratio of 0.97 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32.

California Resources (NYSE:CRC) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, November 5th. The oil and gas producer reported $1.50 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.88 by $0.62. The business had revenue of $1.35 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $973.13 million. California Resources had a return on equity of 12.16% and a net margin of 17.43%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 194.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $1.02 earnings per share. Equities research analysts predict that California Resources will post 3.42 earnings per share for the current year.

California Resources Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 16th. Investors of record on Monday, December 2nd will be given a dividend of $0.3875 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, December 2nd. This represents a $1.55 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.74%. California Resources’s dividend payout ratio is currently 24.41%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, VP Noelle M. Repetti sold 8,770 shares of California Resources stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $55.75, for a total transaction of $488,927.50. Following the transaction, the vice president now owns 8,531 shares in the company, valued at approximately $475,603.25. The trade was a 50.69 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Francisco Leon sold 7,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $49.18, for a total value of $368,850.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 166,357 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,181,437.26. The trade was a 4.31 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 26,270 shares of company stock valued at $1,387,778 in the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On California Resources

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in CRC. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of California Resources by 4.4% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 8,100,283 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $446,326,000 after acquiring an additional 344,043 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its holdings in California Resources by 4.9% during the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 3,576,306 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $190,328,000 after purchasing an additional 165,629 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp lifted its position in shares of California Resources by 5.1% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 3,449,988 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $181,021,000 after purchasing an additional 168,278 shares during the period. American Century Companies Inc. boosted its stake in shares of California Resources by 18.1% in the 2nd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 1,631,432 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $86,825,000 after purchasing an additional 250,367 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of California Resources by 3.6% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,592,663 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $83,583,000 after buying an additional 55,815 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 97.79% of the company’s stock.

About California Resources

California Resources Corporation operates as an independent oil and natural gas exploration and production, and carbon management company in the United States. The company explores, produces, and markets crude oil, natural gas, and natural gas liquids for marketers, California refineries, and other purchasers that have access to transportation and storage facilities.