Renaissance Technologies LLC Decreases Position in California Resources Corporation $CRC

Renaissance Technologies LLC lowered its position in California Resources Corporation (NYSE:CRC) by 57.4% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 187,169 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock after selling 252,406 shares during the quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC owned 0.21% of California Resources worth $12,956,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of California Resources by 6.4% during the 4th 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 last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its stake in 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 last quarter. State Street Corp increased its holdings in California Resources by 14.7% during 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 in the last quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. increased 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 valued at $104,822,000 after acquiring an additional 1,564,866 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Sourcerock Group LLC increased its holdings in California Resources by 63.8% during 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 acquiring an additional 779,280 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 97.79% of the company’s stock.

California Resources Trading Up 2.9%

California Resources stock opened at $52.54 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $4.66 billion, a PE ratio of -10.10 and a beta of 0.92. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $55.04 and a 200 day moving average price of $58.37. California Resources Corporation has a 52 week low of $43.24 and a 52 week 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.

California Resources (NYSE:CRC) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, May 5th. The oil and gas producer reported $0.88 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $0.88. The firm had revenue of $119.00 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $947.50 million. California Resources had a negative net margin of 16.10% and a positive return on equity of 10.12%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 87.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.07 EPS. Equities research analysts predict that California Resources Corporation will post 4.02 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

California Resources Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 18th. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 29th were given a $0.405 dividend. This represents a $1.62 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.1%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, May 29th. California Resources’s payout ratio is currently -31.15%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have issued reports on CRC. 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. Stephens set a $85.00 price target on shares of California Resources and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, July 17th. Barclays raised their price objective on shares of California Resources from $72.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 26th. Citigroup cut their price objective on California Resources from $78.00 to $70.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, June 30th. Finally, Zacks Research lowered California Resources from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 15th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, ten have given a Buy rating, one has issued a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $73.09.

Insider Buying and Selling at California Resources

In related news, EVP Jay A. Bys sold 11,907 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $54.00, for a total transaction of $642,978.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president owned 159,424 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,608,896. This represents a 6.95% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. 0.53% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.