California Resources Co. (NYSE:CRC) Short Interest Up 29.3% in March

California Resources Co. (NYSE:CRC) saw a large increase in short interest during the month of March. As of March 31st, there was short interest totalling 7,200,000 shares, an increase of 29.3% from the March 15th total of 5,570,000 shares. Currently, 12.5% of the shares of the stock are sold short. Based on an average trading volume of 978,800 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 7.4 days.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On California Resources

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. LSV Asset Management increased its position in shares of 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 in the last quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of California Resources by 71.9% in the fourth quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 1,965,476 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $107,472,000 after acquiring an additional 821,827 shares during the period. State Street Corp grew its position in shares of California Resources by 31.4% during the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 3,391,414 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $153,597,000 after acquiring an additional 811,120 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its holdings in shares of California Resources by 54.7% in the 1st quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,237,981 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $86,161,000 after acquiring an additional 791,762 shares during the period. Finally, Renaissance Technologies LLC boosted its stake in California Resources by 292.4% during the 1st quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 853,136 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $38,161,000 after purchasing an additional 635,700 shares during the period. 97.79% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

California Resources Trading Down 1.3 %

NYSE:CRC opened at $55.79 on Monday. California Resources has a 1 year low of $37.21 and a 1 year high of $58.44. The stock has a market cap of $3.84 billion, a P/E ratio of 7.23 and a beta of 1.02. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24, a quick ratio of 1.39 and a current ratio of 1.51. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $53.53 and a 200-day simple moving average of $52.70.

California Resources (NYSE:CRC) last posted 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). The business had revenue of $726.00 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $553.47 million. California Resources had a return on equity of 17.57% and a net margin of 20.14%. California Resources’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $1.24 EPS. As a group, analysts anticipate that California Resources will post 4.57 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

California Resources Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 18th. Investors of record on Wednesday, March 6th were given a $0.31 dividend. This represents a $1.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.22%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, March 5th. California Resources’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 16.06%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

CRC has been the topic of several recent research reports. Barclays began coverage on California Resources in a research report on Wednesday, April 10th. They issued an “equal weight” rating and a $62.00 price target for the company. Mizuho dropped their price objective on shares of California Resources from $69.00 to $63.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Friday, March 22nd. Bank of America lowered California Resources from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and decreased their price target for the company from $64.00 to $60.00 in a research note on Friday, January 5th. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $70.00 target price on shares of California Resources in a research report on Wednesday, March 6th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus lowered their price objective on shares of California Resources from $72.00 to $68.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, March 22nd. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $63.43.

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.