D. E. Shaw & Co. Inc. Sells 809,259 Shares of Range Resources Co. (NYSE:RRC)

D. E. Shaw & Co. Inc. lessened its holdings in Range Resources Co. (NYSE:RRC) by 50.2% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 803,383 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock after selling 809,259 shares during the quarter. D. E. Shaw & Co. Inc.’s holdings in Range Resources were worth $26,937,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. DRW Securities LLC boosted its holdings in Range Resources by 150.0% in the 4th quarter. DRW Securities LLC now owns 50,000 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock valued at $1,522,000 after purchasing an additional 30,000 shares during the period. Norden Group LLC grew its position in Range Resources by 1,599.9% during the first quarter. Norden Group LLC now owns 149,697 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock worth $5,154,000 after buying an additional 140,891 shares in the last quarter. State Board of Administration of Florida Retirement System increased its stake in Range Resources by 11.6% during the 1st quarter. State Board of Administration of Florida Retirement System now owns 159,729 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock worth $5,499,000 after acquiring an additional 16,619 shares during the period. Bridgewater Associates LP raised its holdings in Range Resources by 39.1% in the 4th quarter. Bridgewater Associates LP now owns 528,042 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock valued at $16,074,000 after acquiring an additional 148,550 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its position in shares of Range Resources by 25.2% during the 1st quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 28,633,567 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock valued at $985,855,000 after acquiring an additional 5,759,883 shares during the period. 98.93% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Range Resources Trading Up 1.9 %

RRC opened at $30.74 on Friday. Range Resources Co. has a fifty-two week low of $27.29 and a fifty-two week high of $39.33. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.28, a current ratio of 0.58 and a quick ratio of 0.58. The firm has a market capitalization of $7.46 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.60 and a beta of 1.80. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $30.11 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $33.42.

Range Resources (NYSE:RRC) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, July 23rd. The oil and gas exploration company reported $0.46 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.41 by $0.05. Range Resources had a net margin of 17.62% and a return on equity of 13.93%. The firm had revenue of $641.30 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $610.24 million. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.27 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts predict that Range Resources Co. will post 1.87 earnings per share for the current year.

Range Resources Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 27th. Shareholders of record on Friday, September 13th were issued a dividend of $0.08 per share. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.04%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, September 13th. Range Resources’s payout ratio is 16.24%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, VP Ashley Kavanaugh sold 12,700 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, September 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $31.45, for a total value of $399,415.00. Following the sale, the vice president now directly owns 9,670 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $304,121.50. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Insiders own 1.57% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

RRC has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. UBS Group dropped their price target on Range Resources from $30.00 to $27.00 and set a “sell” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, September 18th. Morgan Stanley cut their price target on shares of Range Resources from $33.00 to $31.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, September 16th. Mizuho lowered their price objective on shares of Range Resources from $47.00 to $45.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, September 16th. Jefferies Financial Group raised their target price on Range Resources from $34.00 to $35.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, July 8th. Finally, Benchmark reissued a “hold” rating on shares of Range Resources in a report on Wednesday, July 24th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have assigned a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Range Resources has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $35.53.

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.