California Resources Co. (NYSE:CRC) Short Interest Update

California Resources Co. (NYSE:CRC) saw a large growth in short interest during the month of December. As of December 15th, there was short interest totalling 3,220,000 shares, a growth of 9.9% from the November 30th total of 2,930,000 shares. Approximately 4.3% of the company’s shares are sold short. Based on an average trading volume of 688,700 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 4.7 days.

Insider Buying and Selling at California Resources

In other California Resources news, VP Noelle M. Repetti sold 8,770 shares of California Resources stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $55.75, for a total value of $488,927.50. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now owns 8,531 shares in the company, valued at $475,603.25. The trade was a 50.69 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, EVP Omar Hayat sold 16,016 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, December 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $55.18, for a total transaction of $883,762.88. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 30,940 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,707,269.20. This represents a 34.11 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of California Resources

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in CRC. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank grew its stake in California Resources by 20.7% in the second quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 12,317 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $656,000 after purchasing an additional 2,116 shares in the last quarter. BNP PARIBAS ASSET MANAGEMENT Holding S.A. bought a new stake in shares of California Resources in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $729,000. Victory Capital Management Inc. raised its position in shares of California Resources by 10.7% during the 2nd quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 1,078,123 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $57,378,000 after acquiring an additional 104,504 shares in the last quarter. Arizona State Retirement System lifted its stake in California Resources by 8.9% during the second quarter. Arizona State Retirement System now owns 15,400 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $820,000 after purchasing an additional 1,256 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Private Management Group Inc. lifted its stake in California Resources by 14.6% during the second quarter. Private Management Group Inc. now owns 793,959 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $42,254,000 after purchasing an additional 101,021 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 97.79% of the company’s stock.

California Resources Price Performance

CRC opened at $50.52 on Tuesday. California Resources has a twelve month low of $43.09 and a twelve month high of $60.41. The company has a current ratio of 0.97, a quick ratio of 0.89 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32. The firm has a market cap of $4.62 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 7.96, a PEG ratio of 1.35 and a beta of 1.01. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $54.93 and a 200 day simple moving average of $52.34.

California Resources (NYSE:CRC) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, November 5th. The oil and gas producer reported $1.50 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.88 by $0.62. The business had revenue of $1.35 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $973.13 million. California Resources had a return on equity of 12.16% and a net margin of 17.43%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 194.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.02 earnings per share. Equities research analysts expect that California Resources will post 3.58 EPS for the current fiscal year.

California Resources Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 16th. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 2nd were paid a dividend of $0.3875 per share. This represents a $1.55 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.07%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 2nd. California Resources’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 24.41%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

CRC has been the topic of several research reports. UBS Group assumed coverage on California Resources in a research report on Wednesday, October 16th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $68.00 target price on the stock. Barclays raised their price objective on California Resources from $55.00 to $57.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, October 3rd. Jefferies Financial Group started coverage on California Resources in a report on Thursday, October 24th. They set a “buy” rating and a $64.00 target price for the company. Capital One Financial upgraded shares of California Resources to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, December 9th. Finally, TD Cowen boosted their price objective on shares of California Resources from $65.00 to $74.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 26th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $66.09.

California Resources Company Profile

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.