Royal Bank of Canada Forecasts Strong Price Appreciation for Range Resources (NYSE:RRC) Stock

Range Resources (NYSE:RRC) had its price objective lifted by equities research analysts at Royal Bank of Canada from $35.00 to $40.00 in a research note issued on Monday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a “sector perform” rating on the oil and gas exploration company’s stock. Royal Bank of Canada’s price target points to a potential upside of 10.25% from the company’s previous close.

Several other analysts also recently commented on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price objective on shares of Range Resources from $39.00 to $38.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, October 25th. Barclays raised shares of Range Resources from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and lowered their price target for the stock from $35.00 to $34.00 in a report on Wednesday, October 2nd. StockNews.com raised shares of Range Resources to a “sell” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 12th. UBS Group lowered their price target on shares of Range Resources from $30.00 to $27.00 and set a “sell” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, September 18th. Finally, Mizuho lowered their price target on shares of Range Resources from $45.00 to $40.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, October 9th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have issued a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $35.00.

Range Resources Stock Up 1.3 %

RRC stock opened at $36.28 on Monday. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $31.74 and its 200-day simple moving average is $32.53. The company has a market capitalization of $8.75 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.32 and a beta of 1.80. 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 has a 12 month low of $27.29 and a 12 month high of $39.33.

Range Resources (NYSE:RRC) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 22nd. The oil and gas exploration company reported $0.48 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.32 by $0.16. The business had revenue of $615.03 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $617.90 million. Range Resources had a net margin of 17.63% and a return on equity of 13.69%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up .9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.43 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Range Resources will post 1.88 earnings per share for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, VP Ashley Kavanaugh sold 12,700 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, September 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $31.45, for a total value of $399,415.00. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now directly owns 9,670 shares in the company, valued at $304,121.50. This represents a 56.77 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, Director Charles G. Griffie bought 1,275 shares of Range Resources stock in a transaction dated Thursday, October 24th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $31.46 per share, with a total value of $40,111.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 5,921 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $186,274.66. The trade was a 27.44 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. 1.57% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Range Resources

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC acquired a new stake in Range Resources during the first quarter worth about $220,000. Hancock Whitney Corp acquired a new stake in Range Resources during the first quarter worth about $232,000. Cetera Investment Advisers increased its position in Range Resources by 906.5% during the first quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 89,940 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock worth $3,097,000 after purchasing an additional 81,004 shares during the last quarter. Cetera Advisors LLC increased its position in Range Resources by 4.4% during the first quarter. Cetera Advisors LLC now owns 15,720 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock worth $541,000 after purchasing an additional 665 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Boston Partners increased its position in Range Resources by 2.1% during the first quarter. Boston Partners now owns 6,531,086 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock worth $224,912,000 after purchasing an additional 133,565 shares during the last quarter. 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.