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

California Resources Corporation (NYSE:CRC) has received an average rating of “Moderate Buy” from the fourteen ratings firms that are presently covering the firm, MarketBeat.com reports. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, ten have issued a buy recommendation and one has assigned a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 12-month price objective among brokerages that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $73.50.

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on CRC shares. Zacks Research downgraded shares of California Resources from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, May 25th. Mizuho upped their price target on shares of California Resources from $86.00 to $87.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 27th. Barclays upped their price target on shares of California Resources from $72.00 to $80.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, May 26th. Weiss Ratings downgraded shares of California Resources from a “hold (c)” rating to a “hold (c-)” rating in a report on Friday, May 8th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on shares of California Resources from $72.00 to $76.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 17th.

California Resources Price Performance

Shares of NYSE CRC opened at $62.38 on Thursday. California Resources has a twelve month low of $43.24 and a twelve month high of $71.98. The company has a current ratio of 0.55, a quick ratio of 0.47 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45. The company has a market capitalization of $5.54 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -12.00 and a beta of 0.90. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $64.16 and a two-hundred day moving average of $56.17.

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

California Resources Dividend Announcement

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other California Resources news, Director Mark Allen Mcfarland sold 16,372 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $64.83, for a total transaction of $1,061,396.76. Following the sale, the director owned 76,265 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,944,259.95. The trade was a 17.67% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, COO Omar Hayat sold 23,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $65.87, for a total value of $1,515,010.00. Following the sale, the chief operating officer owned 82,236 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,416,885.32. The trade was a 21.86% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 63,719 shares of company stock worth $4,091,034. Company insiders own 0.53% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of California Resources

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of CRC. Victory Capital Management Inc. raised its holdings in 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 buying an additional 1,564,866 shares during the period. Channing Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of California Resources by 1,263.4% in the 4th quarter. Channing Capital Management LLC now owns 1,590,707 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $71,121,000 after purchasing an additional 1,474,037 shares during the period. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership acquired a new position in shares of California Resources in the 1st quarter valued at about $62,698,000. Sourcerock Group LLC increased its holdings in shares of California Resources by 63.8% in the 2nd quarter. Sourcerock Group LLC now owns 2,000,649 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $91,370,000 after purchasing an additional 779,280 shares during the period. Finally, Invesco Ltd. increased its holdings in shares of California Resources by 155.8% in the 2nd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 1,062,553 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $48,527,000 after purchasing an additional 647,190 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 97.79% of the company’s stock.

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.