Vest Financial LLC Grows Position in California Resources Co. (NYSE:CRC)

Vest Financial LLC increased its stake in shares of California Resources Co. (NYSE:CRC) by 27.8% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 688,746 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock after purchasing an additional 149,737 shares during the period. Vest Financial LLC’s holdings in California Resources were worth $35,739,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of CRC. R Squared Ltd bought a new position in shares of California Resources during the 4th quarter valued at about $31,000. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its stake in California Resources by 61.5% during the third quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 974 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $51,000 after buying an additional 371 shares during the last quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC boosted its stake in California Resources by 71.6% during the fourth quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC now owns 1,088 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $56,000 after buying an additional 454 shares during the last quarter. Point72 DIFC Ltd purchased a new position in California Resources during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $70,000. Finally, Blue Trust Inc. increased its stake in California Resources by 518.4% in the 4th quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 1,682 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $88,000 after acquiring an additional 1,410 shares during the last quarter. 97.79% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have recently commented on the company. UBS Group initiated coverage on California Resources in a research report on Wednesday, October 16th. They set a “buy” rating and a $68.00 target price for the company. TD Cowen increased their price objective on shares of California Resources from $65.00 to $74.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 26th. Stephens started coverage on shares of California Resources in a research report on Tuesday, October 22nd. They set an “overweight” rating and a $73.00 target price on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. began coverage on California Resources in a research report on Friday, December 20th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $63.00 price target for the company. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and set a $70.00 price objective on shares of California Resources in a research report on Tuesday, January 14th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $67.25.

California Resources Stock Down 2.0 %

Shares of CRC opened at $46.97 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.29 billion, a P/E ratio of 7.40, a P/E/G ratio of 1.01 and a beta of 1.04. California Resources Co. has a 12-month low of $43.09 and a 12-month high of $60.41. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $52.47 and a 200-day moving average price of $52.39. The company has a current ratio of 0.97, a quick ratio of 0.89 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32.

California Resources (NYSE:CRC) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, November 5th. The oil and gas producer reported $1.50 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.88 by $0.62. California Resources had a net margin of 17.43% and a return on equity of 12.16%. The business had revenue of $1.35 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $973.13 million. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.02 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 194.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts expect that California Resources Co. will post 3.85 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity at California Resources

In other California Resources news, EVP Omar Hayat sold 16,016 shares of California Resources stock in a transaction on Thursday, December 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $55.18, for a total transaction of $883,762.88. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 30,940 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,707,269.20. The trade was a 34.11 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 0.63% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

About California Resources

California Resources Corporation operates as an independent oil and natural gas exploration and production, and carbon management company in the United States. The company explores, produces, and markets crude oil, natural gas, and natural gas liquids for marketers, California refineries, and other purchasers that have access to transportation and storage facilities.