Citigroup Issues Positive Forecast for California Resources (NYSE:CRC) Stock Price

California Resources (NYSE:CRC) had its price target lifted by Citigroup from $51.00 to $67.00 in a research report report published on Wednesday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a neutral rating on the oil and gas producer’s stock.

CRC has been the topic of a number of other reports. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on California Resources from $72.00 to $76.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday. UBS Group upped their price objective on shares of California Resources from $63.00 to $75.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, March 5th. TD Cowen upgraded shares of California Resources to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, February 9th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c)” rating on shares of California Resources in a report on Wednesday, January 21st. Finally, Zacks Research upgraded California Resources from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 19th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have assigned a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, California Resources has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $69.80.

California Resources Stock Performance

CRC opened at $64.24 on Wednesday. The company has a market cap of $5.69 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.74 and a beta of 1.12. The company has a quick ratio of 0.79, a current ratio of 0.89 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.35. California Resources has a 52-week low of $30.97 and a 52-week high of $66.35. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $55.54 and its 200-day moving average price is $51.11.

California Resources (NYSE:CRC) last released its earnings results on Monday, March 2nd. The oil and gas producer reported $0.47 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.49 by ($0.02). California Resources had a net margin of 9.89% and a return on equity of 10.23%. The firm had revenue of $924.00 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $789.67 million. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.91 earnings per share. California Resources’s revenue was up 5.4% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that California Resources will post 3.85 EPS for the current fiscal year.

California Resources Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 20th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 13th will be issued a dividend of $0.405 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 13th. This represents a $1.62 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.5%. California Resources’s dividend payout ratio is presently 39.71%.

Insider Buying and Selling at California Resources

In other California Resources news, COO Omar Hayat sold 23,000 shares of California Resources stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $65.87, for a total transaction of $1,515,010.00. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer directly owned 82,236 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,416,885.32. The trade was a 21.86% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, VP Noelle M. Repetti sold 8,564 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $63.71, for a total value of $545,612.44. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president owned 7,684 shares in the company, valued at $489,547.64. This represents a 52.71% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold a total of 72,283 shares of company stock worth $4,636,646 in the last quarter. Insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of California Resources

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. raised its stake in shares of California Resources by 363.6% in the 4th quarter. Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. now owns 561 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $25,000 after acquiring an additional 440 shares during the period. EMC Capital Management acquired a new stake in California Resources in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $42,000. Invesco Ltd. raised its position in California Resources by 3.0% in the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 1,102,049 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $49,273,000 after purchasing an additional 32,460 shares during the period. Mackenzie Financial Corp grew its position in California Resources by 8.2% in the 4th quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 11,313 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $504,000 after acquiring an additional 862 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. grew its position in California Resources by 12.1% in the 4th quarter. Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. now owns 1,616,761 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $72,285,000 after acquiring an additional 174,154 shares in the last quarter. 97.79% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

California Resources Company Profile

California Resources Corporation (NYSE: CRC) is an independent exploration and production company focused exclusively on developing oil and natural gas assets in California. Headquartered in Newport Beach, the company engages in hydraulic fracturing, well completions, reservoir management and enhanced recovery operations to produce crude oil, natural gas and natural gas liquids.

CRC’s operations are concentrated in three core regions: the Los Angeles Basin, the Ventura Basin and the San Joaquin Basin.