California Resources (NYSE:CRC) Coverage Initiated at Stephens

Stephens started coverage on shares of California Resources (NYSE:CRC) in a research report released on Tuesday, MarketBeat.com reports. The firm issued an overweight rating and a $73.00 price objective on the oil and gas producer’s stock.

Several other equities research analysts have also weighed in on CRC. UBS Group began coverage on shares of California Resources in a report on Wednesday, October 16th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $68.00 target price on the stock. Barclays increased their target price on shares of California Resources from $55.00 to $57.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, October 3rd. Bank of America upgraded shares of California Resources from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $57.00 to $65.00 in a report on Wednesday, August 21st. Citigroup boosted their price objective on shares of California Resources from $63.00 to $65.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, September 5th. Finally, TD Cowen assumed coverage on shares of California Resources in a research report on Friday, August 2nd. They issued a “buy” rating and a $65.00 price objective on the stock. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $65.67.

California Resources Trading Up 6.1 %

Shares of NYSE CRC opened at $53.46 on Tuesday. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $51.36 and its 200 day simple moving average is $50.89. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.57, a current ratio of 2.43 and a quick ratio of 2.33. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.66 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.32, a P/E/G ratio of 1.27 and a beta of 0.98. California Resources has a fifty-two week low of $43.09 and a fifty-two week high of $57.88.

California Resources (NYSE:CRC) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, August 6th. The oil and gas producer reported $0.60 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.96 by ($0.36). The firm had revenue of $514.00 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $477.07 million. California Resources had a return on equity of 11.27% and a net margin of 7.61%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 13.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.53 earnings per share. On average, analysts predict that California Resources will post 3.45 EPS for the current year.

California Resources Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 16th. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 30th were paid a dividend of $0.3875 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, August 30th. This is a positive change from California Resources’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.31. This represents a $1.55 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.90%. California Resources’s payout ratio is currently 44.41%.

Insider Transactions at California Resources

In other news, VP Noelle M. Repetti sold 10,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $53.00, for a total transaction of $530,000.00. Following the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 17,301 shares in the company, valued at $916,953. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. In other news, VP Noelle M. Repetti sold 10,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $53.00, for a total transaction of $530,000.00. Following the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 17,301 shares in the company, valued at $916,953. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Francisco Leon sold 7,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $49.18, for a total transaction of $368,850.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 166,357 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,181,437.26. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.03% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of CRC. Point72 Asset Management L.P. grew its stake in California Resources by 2,615.2% in the 2nd quarter. Point72 Asset Management L.P. now owns 843,011 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $44,865,000 after buying an additional 811,963 shares during the last quarter. Samlyn Capital LLC bought a new stake in California Resources in the 2nd quarter valued at about $28,566,000. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in California Resources by 4.4% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 8,100,283 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $446,326,000 after purchasing an additional 344,043 shares during the period. American Century Companies Inc. boosted its holdings in 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 period. Finally, SIR Capital Management L.P. bought a new stake in California Resources in the 2nd quarter valued at about $11,820,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.