Morgan Stanley Upgrades Range Resources (NYSE:RRC) to Equal Weight

Range Resources (NYSE:RRC) was upgraded by equities research analysts at Morgan Stanley from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating in a research report issued on Wednesday, Marketbeat reports. The firm presently has a $49.00 target price on the oil and gas exploration company’s stock, up from their prior target price of $40.00. Morgan Stanley’s target price would indicate a potential upside of 26.08% from the company’s current price.

Other equities analysts have also recently issued reports about the company. Barclays set a $43.00 price objective on Range Resources and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 27th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on shares of Range Resources from $38.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 17th. Scotiabank lowered Range Resources from a “sector outperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating and set a $45.00 target price for the company. in a report on Friday, January 17th. Mizuho boosted their price objective on Range Resources from $40.00 to $47.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, December 16th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised Range Resources from an “underweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and increased their target price for the stock from $43.00 to $45.00 in a research report on Thursday, March 13th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have issued a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $40.89.

Range Resources Trading Down 2.4 %

RRC opened at $38.86 on Wednesday. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $38.56 and its 200 day moving average price is $35.05. The stock has a market capitalization of $9.38 billion, a PE ratio of 19.63, a P/E/G ratio of 5.11 and a beta of 1.80. Range Resources has a 12-month low of $27.29 and a 12-month high of $41.95. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.28, a current ratio of 0.54 and a quick ratio of 0.54.

Range Resources (NYSE:RRC) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 25th. The oil and gas exploration company reported $0.68 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.55 by $0.13. Range Resources had a return on equity of 13.69% and a net margin of 17.63%. The business had revenue of $626.42 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $676.53 million. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.63 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts expect that Range Resources will post 2.02 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Range Resources

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. Boston Partners grew its holdings in Range Resources by 4.9% during the fourth quarter. Boston Partners now owns 7,976,052 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock worth $287,078,000 after acquiring an additional 371,777 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its position in shares of Range Resources by 9.3% during the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 7,330,676 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock valued at $263,768,000 after acquiring an additional 624,955 shares during the last quarter. Lingotto Investment Management LLP grew its holdings in shares of Range Resources by 2.5% in the 4th quarter. Lingotto Investment Management LLP now owns 6,864,038 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock worth $246,968,000 after acquiring an additional 165,242 shares during the last quarter. Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. raised its position in shares of Range Resources by 71.3% during the fourth quarter. Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. now owns 5,057,280 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock worth $181,961,000 after purchasing an additional 2,104,304 shares during the period. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Range Resources by 0.9% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 4,003,299 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock valued at $123,174,000 after purchasing an additional 35,344 shares during the period. 98.93% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About Range Resources

Range Resources Corporation operates as an independent natural gas, natural gas liquids (NGLs), crude oil, and condensate company in the United States. The company engages in the exploration, development, and acquisition of natural gas and crude oil properties located in the Appalachian region. It sells natural gas to utilities, marketing and midstream companies, and industrial users; NGLs to petrochemical end users, marketers/traders, and natural gas processors; and oil and condensate to crude oil processors, transporters, and refining and marketing companies.