California Resources (NYSE:CRC) Price Target Raised to $74.00

California Resources (NYSE:CRC) had its target price lifted by Citigroup from $67.00 to $74.00 in a report issued on Monday,Benzinga reports. They currently have a neutral rating on the oil and gas producer’s stock.

CRC has been the topic of a number of other reports. TD Cowen upgraded shares of California Resources to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, February 9th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c)” rating on shares of California Resources in a research note on Wednesday, January 21st. Pickering Energy Partners lowered California Resources from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, January 9th. Wall Street Zen cut California Resources from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Sunday. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on California Resources from $72.00 to $76.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 17th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have assigned a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $70.50.

California Resources Trading Down 4.5%

Shares of CRC stock opened at $66.09 on Monday. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $59.39 and its two-hundred day moving average is $52.20. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.35, a quick ratio of 0.79 and a current ratio of 0.89. The firm has a market capitalization of $5.86 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.20 and a beta of 1.12. California Resources has a fifty-two week low of $30.97 and a fifty-two week high of $71.98.

California Resources (NYSE:CRC) last announced its earnings results on Monday, March 2nd. The oil and gas producer reported $0.47 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.49 by ($0.02). The business had revenue of $924.00 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $789.67 million. California Resources had a return on equity of 10.23% and a net margin of 9.89%.The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.91 EPS. Research analysts expect that California Resources will post 3.85 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

California Resources Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 20th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 13th were given a dividend of $0.405 per share. This represents a $1.62 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.5%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 13th. California Resources’s payout ratio is presently 39.71%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other California Resources news, VP Noelle M. Repetti sold 8,564 shares of California Resources stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $63.71, for a total value of $545,612.44. Following the sale, the vice president owned 7,684 shares in the company, valued at $489,547.64. The trade was a 52.71% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, EVP Christopher D. Gould sold 24,347 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $62.21, for a total value of $1,514,626.87. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 131,537 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,182,916.77. This trade represents a 15.62% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 72,283 shares of company stock valued at $4,636,646. Insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of California Resources

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of CRC. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in California Resources by 6.4% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 8,775,097 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $392,335,000 after buying an additional 529,814 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its stake in shares of California Resources by 17.8% in the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 4,181,806 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $186,968,000 after acquiring an additional 632,170 shares during the period. State Street Corp raised its stake in shares of California Resources by 14.7% in the 4th quarter. State Street Corp now owns 3,842,223 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $171,786,000 after acquiring an additional 491,751 shares during the period. American Century Companies Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of California Resources by 5.6% in the 3rd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 3,006,430 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $159,882,000 after acquiring an additional 159,708 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Victory Capital Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of California Resources by 200.7% during the 4th quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 2,344,493 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $104,822,000 after purchasing an additional 1,564,866 shares during the period. 97.79% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

California Resources Company Profile

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.