Brokerages Set Range Resources Co. (NYSE:RRC) PT at $36.00

Range Resources Co. (NYSE:RRC - Get Free Report) has been assigned an average rating of "Hold" from the twenty research firms that are presently covering the company, Marketbeat reports. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have given a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company. The average 1 year price objective among analysts that have covered the stock in the last year is $36.00.

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price target on shares of Range Resources from $37.00 to $31.00 and set an "underweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, September 12th. Barclays upgraded shares of Range Resources from an "underweight" rating to an "equal weight" rating and dropped their target price for the company from $35.00 to $34.00 in a research report on Wednesday, October 2nd. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Range Resources to a "sell" rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 27th. UBS Group upgraded Range Resources from a "sell" rating to a "neutral" rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $28.00 to $35.00 in a report on Monday, December 9th. Finally, Mizuho increased their target price on Range Resources from $40.00 to $47.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Monday, December 16th.

Insider Activity

In other Range Resources news, Director Charles G. Griffie purchased 1,275 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, October 24th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $31.46 per share, with a total value of $40,111.50. Following the purchase, the director now directly owns 5,921 shares in the company, valued at approximately $186,274.66. This trade represents a 27.44 % increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 2.50% of the company's stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its stake in shares of Range Resources by 61.9% in the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 1,579,579 shares of the oil and gas exploration company's stock valued at $48,588,000 after acquiring an additional 604,199 shares during the period. Forthright Family Wealth Advisory LLC acquired a new stake in Range Resources in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $445,000. Sanctuary Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Range Resources in the third quarter valued at approximately $205,000. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in Range Resources by 0.9% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 4,003,299 shares of the oil and gas exploration company's stock worth $123,174,000 after purchasing an additional 35,344 shares in the last quarter. Finally, M&T Bank Corp boosted its position in shares of Range Resources by 3.1% during the third quarter. M&T Bank Corp now owns 10,790 shares of the oil and gas exploration company's stock worth $332,000 after buying an additional 327 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 98.93% of the company's stock.

Range Resources Stock Performance

RRC stock traded down $0.43 during midday trading on Wednesday, hitting $35.98. 1,665,931 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,321,561. The stock's fifty day simple moving average is $33.85 and its 200-day simple moving average is $32.19. The firm has a market cap of $8.68 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.17 and a beta of 1.85. Range Resources has a 1-year low of $27.29 and a 1-year high of $39.33. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.28, a current ratio of 0.54 and a quick ratio of 0.54.

Range Resources (NYSE:RRC - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 22nd. The oil and gas exploration company reported $0.48 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.32 by $0.16. Range Resources had a return on equity of 13.69% and a net margin of 17.63%. The company had revenue of $615.03 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $617.90 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.43 EPS. Range Resources's quarterly revenue was up .9% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts expect that Range Resources will post 1.91 earnings per share for the current year.

Range Resources Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 27th. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 13th were paid a dividend of $0.08 per share. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.89%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, December 13th. Range Resources's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 16.16%.

Range Resources Company Profile

Range Resources Corporation operates as an independent natural gas, natural gas liquids (NGLs), crude oil, and condensate company in the United States. The company engages in the exploration, development, and acquisition of natural gas and crude oil properties located in the Appalachian region. It sells natural gas to utilities, marketing and midstream companies, and industrial users; NGLs to petrochemical end users, marketers/traders, and natural gas processors; and oil and condensate to crude oil processors, transporters, and refining and marketing companies.