Insider Buying: California Resources Co. (NYSE:CRC) Director Acquires $18,224.36 in Stock

California Resources Co. (NYSE:CRC) Director William B. Roby acquired 388 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 23rd. The shares were bought at an average cost of $46.97 per share, for a total transaction of $18,224.36. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director now owns 51,014 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,396,127.58. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink.

California Resources Price Performance

California Resources stock opened at $47.21 on Monday. California Resources Co. has a 12-month low of $37.21 and a 12-month high of $58.44. The stock has a market cap of $3.24 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.53, a PEG ratio of 0.50 and a beta of 1.03. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $52.88 and a 200 day moving average price of $52.27. The company has a current ratio of 1.41, a quick ratio of 1.29 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26.

California Resources (NYSE:CRC) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, May 7th. The oil and gas producer reported $0.75 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.58 by $0.17. California Resources had a net margin of 11.34% and a return on equity of 11.00%. The business had revenue of $454.00 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $490.21 million. During the same period last year, the business earned $2.63 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 55.7% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts anticipate that California Resources Co. will post 4.88 earnings per share for the current year.

California Resources Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 14th. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 31st will be given a dividend of $0.31 per share. This represents a $1.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.63%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 31st. California Resources’s dividend payout ratio is presently 35.53%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On California Resources

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of California Resources by 4.4% in the first 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. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its stake in shares of California Resources by 6.1% in the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 3,299,902 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $180,440,000 after purchasing an additional 190,588 shares during the period. LSV Asset Management boosted its stake in shares of California Resources by 6.2% in the fourth quarter. LSV Asset Management now owns 3,125,466 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $170,900,000 after purchasing an additional 182,246 shares during the period. Pacer Advisors Inc. boosted its stake in shares of California Resources by 71.9% in the fourth quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 1,965,476 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $107,472,000 after purchasing an additional 821,827 shares during the period. Finally, American Century Companies Inc. boosted its stake in shares of California Resources by 13.2% in the third quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 925,185 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $51,820,000 after purchasing an additional 108,123 shares during the period. 97.79% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have issued reports on CRC shares. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price objective on shares of California Resources from $68.00 to $69.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 23rd. Barclays started coverage on shares of California Resources in a research report on Wednesday, April 10th. They issued an “equal weight” rating and a $62.00 target price for the company. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $70.00 target price on shares of California Resources in a research report on Wednesday, March 6th. Finally, Mizuho increased their target price on shares of California Resources from $63.00 to $64.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, May 13th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, California Resources has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $63.71.

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.