California Resources Corporation (NYSE:CRC) Receives Average Recommendation of “Buy” from Analysts

Shares of California Resources Corporation (NYSE:CRC) have been assigned an average recommendation of “Buy” from the fifteen brokerages that are presently covering the stock, MarketBeat.com reports. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have given a buy rating and three have issued a strong buy rating on the company. The average 1 year target price among analysts that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $70.50.

Several research firms have weighed in on CRC. Barclays lifted their target price on California Resources from $67.00 to $72.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, March 16th. UBS Group lifted their target price on California Resources from $63.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, March 5th. Wall Street Zen upgraded California Resources from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday. Zacks Research upgraded California Resources from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, March 27th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of California Resources in a report on Wednesday, January 21st.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other California Resources news, Director Mark Allen Mcfarland sold 16,372 shares of California Resources stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $64.83, for a total transaction of $1,061,396.76. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 76,265 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,944,259.95. The trade was a 17.67% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, VP Noelle M. Repetti sold 8,564 shares of California Resources stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $63.71, for a total value of $545,612.44. Following the transaction, the vice president owned 7,684 shares in the company, valued at approximately $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. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 72,283 shares of company stock valued at $4,636,646. Insiders own 0.53% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of California Resources

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of California Resources by 6.4% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 8,775,097 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $392,335,000 after purchasing an additional 529,814 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its stake in shares of California Resources by 17.8% in the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 4,181,806 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $186,968,000 after purchasing an additional 632,170 shares during the period. State Street Corp raised its stake in shares of California Resources by 14.7% in the 4th quarter. State Street Corp now owns 3,842,223 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $171,786,000 after purchasing an additional 491,751 shares during the period. American Century Companies Inc. raised its stake in shares of California Resources by 5.6% in the 3rd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 3,006,430 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $159,882,000 after purchasing an additional 159,708 shares during the period. Finally, Victory Capital Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of California Resources by 200.7% in the 4th quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 2,344,493 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $104,822,000 after purchasing an additional 1,564,866 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 97.79% of the company’s stock.

California Resources Stock Performance

CRC stock opened at $68.45 on Wednesday. The business’s fifty day moving average is $60.84 and its 200-day moving average is $52.49. The company has a quick ratio of 0.79, a current ratio of 0.89 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.35. The company has a market cap of $6.07 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.78 and a beta of 1.04. California Resources has a twelve month low of $30.97 and a twelve month high of $71.98.

California Resources (NYSE:CRC) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Monday, March 2nd. The oil and gas producer reported $0.47 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.49 by ($0.02). The company had revenue of $924.00 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $789.67 million. California Resources had a net margin of 9.89% and a return on equity of 10.23%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.91 EPS. Equities research analysts forecast that California Resources will post 3.85 EPS for the current year.

California Resources Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 20th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 13th were issued a dividend of $0.405 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 13th. This represents a $1.62 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.4%. California Resources’s payout ratio is currently 39.71%.

About California Resources

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.