Principal Financial Group Inc. Sells 27,120 Shares of RPC, Inc. (NYSE:RES)

Principal Financial Group Inc. reduced its stake in shares of RPC, Inc. (NYSE:RES) by 6.5% in the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 389,599 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock after selling 27,120 shares during the quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc.’s holdings in RPC were worth $2,478,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Pacer Advisors Inc. lifted its stake in shares of RPC by 38.9% during the third quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 12,029,993 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $76,511,000 after buying an additional 3,371,490 shares during the period. Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in RPC during the third quarter worth approximately $5,917,000. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its position in RPC by 7.9% during the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 10,456,497 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $65,353,000 after purchasing an additional 769,578 shares in the last quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. increased its holdings in RPC by 48.7% in the 2nd quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 2,004,789 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $12,530,000 after acquiring an additional 656,446 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Edgestream Partners L.P. acquired a new position in shares of RPC during the 2nd quarter worth about $3,814,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 41.06% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on RES shares. Susquehanna lowered their price objective on RPC from $6.50 to $6.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, October 25th. Stifel Nicolaus lowered their price objective on RPC from $8.00 to $7.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, October 11th.

RPC Price Performance

Shares of RES opened at $6.17 on Friday. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $6.01 and a 200-day simple moving average of $6.24. RPC, Inc. has a 1-year low of $5.54 and a 1-year high of $8.19. The stock has a market cap of $1.33 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.02 and a beta of 1.61.

RPC (NYSE:RES) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 24th. The oil and gas company reported $0.09 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.13 by ($0.04). RPC had a net margin of 8.07% and a return on equity of 11.36%. The business had revenue of $337.70 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $365.33 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.08 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 2.2% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts expect that RPC, Inc. will post 0.43 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

RPC Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 10th. Stockholders of record on Monday, November 11th were given a dividend of $0.04 per share. This represents a $0.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.59%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 8th. RPC’s payout ratio is currently 28.57%.

About RPC

RPC, Inc, through its subsidiaries, engages provision of a range of oilfield services and equipment for the oil and gas companies involved in the exploration, production, and development of oil and gas properties. The company operates through Technical Services and Support Services segments. The Technical Services segment offers pressure pumping, fracturing, acidizing, cementing, downhole tools, coiled tubing, snubbing, nitrogen, well control, wireline, pump down, and fishing services that are used in the completion, production, and maintenance of oil and gas wells.