Range Resources Co. (NYSE:RRC) Given Average Rating of “Hold” by Brokerages

Range Resources Co. (NYSE:RRC) has been assigned a consensus recommendation of “Hold” from the twenty-two research firms that are presently covering the stock, Marketbeat.com reports. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, twelve have assigned a hold recommendation, eight have given a buy recommendation and one has issued a strong buy recommendation on the company. The average 12 month price objective among analysts that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $41.43.

RRC has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Morgan Stanley set a $41.00 price target on shares of Range Resources in a research note on Tuesday. Roth Capital raised shares of Range Resources from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 8th. UBS Group cut their target price on Range Resources from $41.00 to $36.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, April 7th. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their target price on Range Resources from $39.00 to $43.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 12th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed a “sector perform” rating and set a $42.00 price target on shares of Range Resources in a research report on Friday, April 11th.

Institutional Trading of Range Resources

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in RRC. Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of Range Resources by 71.3% in the 4th quarter. Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. now owns 5,057,280 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock worth $181,961,000 after buying an additional 2,104,304 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP purchased a new stake in shares of Range Resources in the fourth quarter valued at about $33,684,000. Amundi grew its position in shares of Range Resources by 233.2% in the fourth quarter. Amundi now owns 1,180,913 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock valued at $44,308,000 after purchasing an additional 826,530 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its stake in shares of Range Resources by 9.3% during the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 7,330,676 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock worth $263,768,000 after purchasing an additional 624,955 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp raised its position in shares of Range Resources by 37.1% during the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 2,238,863 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock worth $80,554,000 after purchasing an additional 605,315 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 98.93% of the company’s stock.

Range Resources Price Performance

Range Resources stock opened at $33.37 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $8.05 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.86, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.11 and a beta of 1.73. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $37.51 and a 200-day simple moving average of $35.63. The company has a current ratio of 0.54, a quick ratio of 0.54 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.28. Range Resources has a 12-month low of $27.29 and a 12-month high of $41.95.

Range Resources (NYSE:RRC) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 25th. The oil and gas exploration company reported $0.68 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.55 by $0.13. Range Resources had a return on equity of 13.69% and a net margin of 17.63%. The company had revenue of $626.42 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $676.53 million. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.63 EPS. Equities analysts expect that Range Resources will post 2.02 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Range Resources Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th were issued a $0.09 dividend. This represents a $0.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.08%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 14th. This is an increase from Range Resources’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.08. Range Resources’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 32.73%.

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.