California Resources Corporation (NYSE:CRC) Receives Average Rating of “Moderate Buy” from Brokerages

California Resources Corporation (NYSE:CRC) has earned an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the fourteen analysts that are currently covering the company, Marketbeat.com reports. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. The average 12-month price target among analysts that have covered the stock in the last year is $73.50.

Several analysts recently weighed in on CRC shares. Mizuho increased their target price on California Resources from $86.00 to $87.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 27th. Citigroup upgraded California Resources from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their target price for the company from $74.00 to $78.00 in a research note on Wednesday, May 20th. Weiss Ratings downgraded California Resources from a “hold (c)” rating to a “hold (c-)” rating in a research note on Friday, May 8th. Zacks Research downgraded California Resources from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, May 25th. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded California Resources from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Saturday.

Insider Transactions at California Resources

In other California Resources news, Director Mark Allen Mcfarland sold 16,372 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $64.83, for a total value of $1,061,396.76. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 76,265 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,944,259.95. This represents a 17.67% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, COO Omar Hayat sold 23,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $65.87, for a total value of $1,515,010.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer directly owned 82,236 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,416,885.32. This trade represents a 21.86% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last quarter, insiders sold 72,283 shares of company stock worth $4,636,646. Insiders own 0.53% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On California Resources

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Federated Hermes Inc. raised its holdings in shares of California Resources by 4.3% in the 4th quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 4,683 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $209,000 after buying an additional 195 shares in the last quarter. Quadrant Capital Group LLC raised its holdings in shares of California Resources by 14.6% in the 4th quarter. Quadrant Capital Group LLC now owns 1,677 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $75,000 after buying an additional 214 shares in the last quarter. Clearstead Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of California Resources by 82.5% in the 3rd quarter. Clearstead Advisors LLC now owns 500 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $27,000 after buying an additional 226 shares in the last quarter. iA Global Asset Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of California Resources by 4.4% in the 4th quarter. iA Global Asset Management Inc. now owns 5,440 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $243,000 after buying an additional 230 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Smartleaf Asset Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of California Resources by 21.1% in the 3rd quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 1,353 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $73,000 after buying an additional 236 shares in the last quarter. 97.79% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

California Resources Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:CRC opened at $61.61 on Thursday. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $64.23 and a 200 day moving average price of $55.98. California Resources has a twelve month low of $43.24 and a twelve month high of $71.98. The company has a market cap of $5.47 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -11.85 and a beta of 0.96. The company has a quick ratio of 0.47, a current ratio of 0.55 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45.

California Resources (NYSE:CRC) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, May 5th. The oil and gas producer reported $0.88 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $0.88. California Resources had a positive return on equity of 10.12% and a negative net margin of 16.10%.The firm had revenue of $119.00 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $947.50 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $1.07 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 87.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts predict that California Resources will post 5.56 earnings per share for the current year.

California Resources Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 18th. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 29th will be issued a $0.405 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 29th. This represents a $1.62 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.6%. California Resources’s dividend payout ratio is -31.15%.

About California Resources

California Resources Corporation (NYSE: CRC) is an independent exploration and production company focused exclusively on developing oil and natural gas assets in California. Headquartered in Newport Beach, the company engages in hydraulic fracturing, well completions, reservoir management and enhanced recovery operations to produce crude oil, natural gas and natural gas liquids.

CRC’s operations are concentrated in three core regions: the Los Angeles Basin, the Ventura Basin and the San Joaquin Basin.