Renaissance Technologies LLC Cuts Stock Holdings in Range Resources Co. (NYSE:RRC)

Renaissance Technologies LLC cut its stake in Range Resources Co. (NYSE:RRC) by 70.0% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 165,416 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock after selling 386,150 shares during the quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC’s holdings in Range Resources were worth $5,952,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Wellington Management Group LLP acquired a new position in shares of Range Resources during the fourth quarter worth about $33,684,000. Amundi grew its holdings in Range Resources by 233.2% during the 4th quarter. Amundi now owns 1,180,913 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock worth $44,308,000 after acquiring an additional 826,530 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its position in shares of Range Resources by 61.9% in the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 1,579,579 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock valued at $48,588,000 after purchasing an additional 604,199 shares during the last quarter. Telemark Asset Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Range Resources in the 4th quarter valued at $14,392,000. Finally, Boston Partners lifted its position in shares of Range Resources by 4.9% during the 4th quarter. Boston Partners now owns 7,976,052 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock worth $287,078,000 after purchasing an additional 371,777 shares during the last quarter. 98.93% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have weighed in on the company. Morgan Stanley set a $41.00 price target on Range Resources in a research note on Tuesday. Citigroup lowered Range Resources from a “neutral” rating to a “reduce” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 5th. Scotiabank lowered shares of Range Resources from a “sector outperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating and set a $45.00 price target on the stock. in a research note on Friday, January 17th. Roth Capital upgraded shares of Range Resources from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 8th. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded shares of Range Resources from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 15th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have assigned a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $41.43.

Range Resources Trading Up 0.1 %

NYSE:RRC opened at $34.14 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $8.24 billion, a PE ratio of 17.24, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.11 and a beta of 1.73. Range Resources Co. has a 52-week low of $27.29 and a 52-week high of $41.95. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $37.22 and a 200-day simple moving average of $35.69. The company has a quick ratio of 0.54, a current ratio of 0.54 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.28.

Range Resources (NYSE:RRC) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 25th. The oil and gas exploration company reported $0.68 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.55 by $0.13. The business had revenue of $626.42 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $676.53 million. Range Resources had a net margin of 17.63% and a return on equity of 13.69%. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.63 EPS. On average, equities research analysts expect that Range Resources Co. will post 2.02 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Range Resources Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th were paid a dividend of $0.09 per share. This is a boost from Range Resources’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.08. This represents a $0.36 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.05%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 14th. Range Resources’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 32.73%.

About Range Resources

Range Resources Corporation operates as an independent natural gas, natural gas liquids (NGLs), crude oil, and condensate company in the United States. The company engages in the exploration, development, and acquisition of natural gas and crude oil properties located in the Appalachian region. It sells natural gas to utilities, marketing and midstream companies, and industrial users; NGLs to petrochemical end users, marketers/traders, and natural gas processors; and oil and condensate to crude oil processors, transporters, and refining and marketing companies.