Merit Financial Group LLC Invests $218,000 in Range Resources Co. (NYSE:RRC)

Merit Financial Group LLC acquired a new position in shares of Range Resources Co. (NYSE:RRC) in the first quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund acquired 5,454 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock, valued at approximately $218,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in RRC. Empowered Funds LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Range Resources by 1.2% during the 4th quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 74,288 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock worth $2,673,000 after acquiring an additional 845 shares during the period. Entropy Technologies LP bought a new position in Range Resources during the 4th quarter valued at about $272,000. Quent Capital LLC lifted its holdings in Range Resources by 72.0% during the 4th quarter. Quent Capital LLC now owns 2,178 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock valued at $78,000 after purchasing an additional 912 shares during the last quarter. Capital Advisors Inc. OK bought a new position in Range Resources during the 4th quarter valued at about $360,000. Finally, Van ECK Associates Corp lifted its holdings in Range Resources by 13.5% during the 4th quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 173,863 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock valued at $6,256,000 after purchasing an additional 20,744 shares during the last quarter. 98.93% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages recently issued reports on RRC. Barclays cut their price target on shares of Range Resources from $43.00 to $39.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Roth Capital raised shares of Range Resources from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 8th. Citigroup downgraded shares of Range Resources from a “neutral” rating to a “reduce” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 5th. Stephens reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $49.00 target price on shares of Range Resources in a research note on Wednesday, April 23rd. Finally, Truist Financial boosted their target price on shares of Range Resources from $35.00 to $37.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, March 17th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have assigned a hold rating, seven have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Range Resources currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $41.95.

Range Resources Stock Up 2.0%

Shares of NYSE:RRC opened at $40.12 on Friday. Range Resources Co. has a one year low of $27.29 and a one year high of $41.95. The company has a 50 day moving average of $36.65 and a 200-day moving average of $37.14. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.28, a current ratio of 0.54 and a quick ratio of 0.54. The stock has a market cap of $9.59 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.26, a P/E/G ratio of 5.11 and a beta of 0.63.

Range Resources Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 27th. Investors of record on Friday, June 13th will be issued a dividend of $0.09 per share. This represents a $0.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.90%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 13th. Range Resources’s dividend payout ratio is currently 32.14%.

Insider Activity at Range Resources

In related news, CEO Dennis Degner sold 35,850 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $40.42, for a total transaction of $1,449,057.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 58,431 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,361,781.02. The trade was a 38.02% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Reginal Spiller sold 4,200 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $40.16, for a total transaction of $168,672.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 13,663 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $548,706.08. This represents a 23.51% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 76,080 shares of company stock worth $2,984,479. 1.00% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Range Resources Profile

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.