Louisiana State Employees Retirement System Takes $310,000 Position in RPC, Inc. (NYSE:RES)

Louisiana State Employees Retirement System bought a new position in RPC, Inc. (NYSE:RES) during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund bought 42,600 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock, valued at approximately $310,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Pacer Advisors Inc. lifted its holdings in RPC by 274.1% during the fourth quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 8,277,488 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $60,260,000 after purchasing an additional 6,064,627 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. raised its position in shares of RPC by 48.2% during the 3rd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 1,507,687 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $13,479,000 after purchasing an additional 490,538 shares during the period. American Century Companies Inc. boosted its holdings in RPC by 41.4% in the 3rd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 761,195 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $6,805,000 after buying an additional 222,888 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its holdings in RPC by 14.9% in the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,248,101 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $11,158,000 after buying an additional 161,871 shares during the period. Finally, Jupiter Asset Management Ltd. increased its stake in RPC by 148.9% in the 3rd quarter. Jupiter Asset Management Ltd. now owns 186,008 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $1,663,000 after buying an additional 111,273 shares in the last quarter. 41.06% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

RPC Price Performance

Shares of RES opened at $6.55 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $1.40 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.35 and a beta of 1.60. RPC, Inc. has a 1 year low of $6.34 and a 1 year high of $9.41. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $7.62 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $7.48.

RPC (NYSE:RES) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The oil and gas company reported $0.13 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.19 by ($0.06). The company had revenue of $377.80 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $393.33 million. RPC had a return on equity of 15.02% and a net margin of 9.95%. RPC’s revenue was down 20.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.39 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that RPC, Inc. will post 0.71 earnings per share for the current year.

RPC Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 10th. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 10th will be given a dividend of $0.94 per share. This is a positive change from RPC’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.04. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 9th. This represents a $3.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 57.45%. RPC’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 22.86%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Separately, Susquehanna dropped their price objective on RPC from $8.00 to $7.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, April 26th.

About RPC

RPC, Inc, through its subsidiaries, engages provision of a range of oilfield services and equipment for the oil and gas companies involved in the exploration, production, and development of oil and gas properties. The company operates through Technical Services and Support Services segments. The Technical Services segment offers pressure pumping, fracturing, acidizing, cementing, downhole tools, coiled tubing, snubbing, nitrogen, well control, wireline, pump down, and fishing services that are used in the completion, production, and maintenance of oil and gas wells.