Citigroup Inc. Acquires 8,519 Shares of California Resources Corporation $CRC

Citigroup Inc. grew its holdings in California Resources Corporation (NYSE:CRC) by 11.3% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 84,239 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock after acquiring an additional 8,519 shares during the period. Citigroup Inc. owned 0.10% of California Resources worth $4,480,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of CRC. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its stake in shares of California Resources by 11.6% in the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 253,699 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $13,492,000 after purchasing an additional 26,358 shares in the last quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. grew its holdings in California Resources by 30.7% during the third quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 1,988 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $106,000 after purchasing an additional 467 shares during the period. Public Sector Pension Investment Board increased its position in California Resources by 33.1% in the third quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board now owns 315,529 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $16,780,000 after buying an additional 78,389 shares in the last quarter. Rhumbline Advisers increased its position in California Resources by 3.1% in the third quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 215,515 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $11,461,000 after buying an additional 6,572 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Smartleaf Asset Management LLC lifted its position in shares of California Resources by 21.1% during the 3rd quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 1,353 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $73,000 after buying an additional 236 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 97.79% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms recently issued reports on CRC. Pickering Energy Partners lowered shares of California Resources from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, January 9th. UBS Group set a $63.00 price target on shares of California Resources and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, January 26th. Zacks Research upgraded shares of California Resources from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 19th. TD Cowen upgraded shares of California Resources to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, February 9th. Finally, Barclays upped their target price on shares of California Resources from $65.00 to $67.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have issued a Buy rating and four have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $65.70.

California Resources Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE CRC opened at $62.18 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $5.51 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.24 and a beta of 1.12. California Resources Corporation has a 52-week low of $30.97 and a 52-week high of $62.69. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.35, a quick ratio of 0.78 and a current ratio of 0.89. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $51.90 and its two-hundred day moving average is $50.12.

California Resources (NYSE:CRC) last released its quarterly earnings data on Monday, March 2nd. The oil and gas producer reported $0.47 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 company had revenue of $924.00 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $789.67 million. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.91 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.4% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts anticipate that California Resources Corporation will post 3.85 EPS for the current fiscal year.

California Resources Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 20th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 13th will be paid a $0.405 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 13th. This represents a $1.62 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.6%. California Resources’s payout ratio is presently 37.67%.

California Resources 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.