Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund Lowers Stock Holdings in California Resources Co. (NYSE:CRC)

Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund lessened its holdings in shares of California Resources Co. (NYSE:CRC) by 2.4% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 39,508 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock after selling 982 shares during the quarter. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund’s holdings in California Resources were worth $2,160,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in CRC. LSV Asset Management raised its stake in California Resources by 102.0% during the third quarter. LSV Asset Management now owns 2,943,220 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $164,850,000 after purchasing an additional 1,485,970 shares during the period. Pacer Advisors Inc. raised its position in shares of California Resources by 71.9% in the 4th quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 1,965,476 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $107,472,000 after buying an additional 821,827 shares during the period. Grantham Mayo Van Otterloo & Co. LLC boosted its holdings in California Resources by 114.9% in the third quarter. Grantham Mayo Van Otterloo & Co. LLC now owns 528,254 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $29,588,000 after acquiring an additional 282,407 shares during the last quarter. DAVENPORT & Co LLC grew its position in California Resources by 179.8% during the fourth quarter. DAVENPORT & Co LLC now owns 420,946 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $23,127,000 after acquiring an additional 270,508 shares during the period. Finally, American Century Companies Inc. increased its stake in California Resources by 13.2% during the third quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 925,185 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $51,820,000 after acquiring an additional 108,123 shares during the last quarter. 97.79% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on CRC shares. Bank of America lowered California Resources from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and reduced their price objective for the company from $64.00 to $60.00 in a research note on Friday, January 5th. Barclays initiated coverage on shares of California Resources in a research note on Wednesday, April 10th. They issued an “equal weight” rating and a $62.00 target price on the stock. Mizuho cut their price objective on California Resources from $69.00 to $63.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, March 22nd. Stifel Nicolaus raised their target price on California Resources from $68.00 to $69.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $70.00 price target on shares of California Resources in a report on Wednesday, March 6th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, California Resources has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $63.57.

California Resources Stock Performance

California Resources stock opened at $55.26 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.51, a quick ratio of 1.39 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $54.09 and a 200-day moving average of $52.74. The stock has a market cap of $3.80 billion, a P/E ratio of 7.16 and a beta of 1.02. California Resources Co. has a 52 week low of $37.21 and a 52 week high of $58.44.

California Resources (NYSE:CRC) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, February 27th. The oil and gas producer reported $0.93 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.01 by ($0.08). California Resources had a return on equity of 17.57% and a net margin of 20.14%. The company had revenue of $726.00 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $553.47 million. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.24 EPS. California Resources’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.5% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts expect that California Resources Co. will post 4.64 EPS for the current fiscal year.

California Resources Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 18th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, March 6th were issued a $0.31 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, March 5th. This represents a $1.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.24%. California Resources’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 16.06%.

About California Resources

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.