RPC (NYSE:RES) Shares Gap Up Following Dividend Announcement

RPC, Inc. (NYSE:RES) gapped up prior to trading on Thursday after the company announced a dividend. The stock had previously closed at $4.93, but opened at $5.42. RPC shares last traded at $5.03, with a volume of 205,612 shares trading hands.

The newly announced dividend which will be paid on Tuesday, June 10th. Investors of record on Friday, May 9th will be paid a $0.04 dividend. This represents a $0.16 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.22%. RPC’s payout ratio is presently 37.21%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have weighed in on the company. Citigroup upgraded RPC from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and dropped their price objective for the stock from $5.50 to $4.75 in a report on Tuesday, April 8th. Susquehanna dropped their price target on RPC from $6.00 to $5.50 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, April 14th.

RPC Stock Up 0.7 %

The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $5.27 and its 200 day simple moving average is $5.89. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.07 billion, a PE ratio of 11.55 and a beta of 1.27.

RPC (NYSE:RES) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The oil and gas company reported $0.06 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.07 by ($0.01). RPC had a net margin of 6.46% and a return on equity of 8.62%. Equities research analysts forecast that RPC, Inc. will post 0.31 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Trading of RPC

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its holdings in RPC by 4.1% in the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 11,620,598 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $69,025,000 after purchasing an additional 459,700 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of RPC by 0.9% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 10,880,406 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $64,630,000 after purchasing an additional 99,370 shares in the last quarter. Gamco Investors INC. ET AL grew its stake in shares of RPC by 3.3% in the 4th quarter. Gamco Investors INC. ET AL now owns 3,081,429 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $18,304,000 after buying an additional 97,369 shares during the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. increased its position in RPC by 11.2% during the 4th quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 3,039,581 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $18,055,000 after buying an additional 306,976 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Van ECK Associates Corp raised its stake in RPC by 27.2% during the fourth quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 2,838,991 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $16,863,000 after buying an additional 607,255 shares during the last quarter. 41.06% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.