Short Interest in Range Resources Co. (NYSE:RRC) Increases By 19.7%

Range Resources Co. (NYSE:RRC) saw a significant increase in short interest during the month of February. As of February 28th, there was short interest totalling 13,040,000 shares, an increase of 19.7% from the February 13th total of 10,890,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 2,690,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 4.8 days. Approximately 5.5% of the company’s stock are sold short.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have recently commented on the stock. Williams Trading set a $40.00 target price on shares of Range Resources in a report on Wednesday, March 5th. Wolfe Research upgraded shares of Range Resources from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $42.00 target price for the company in a report on Friday, January 3rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded shares of Range Resources from an “underweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and increased their target price for the company from $43.00 to $45.00 in a report on Thursday, March 13th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Range Resources from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Friday, March 7th. Finally, Stephens increased their target price on shares of Range Resources from $43.00 to $44.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 26th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have issued a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $39.95.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Range Resources

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of RRC. Victory Capital Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of Range Resources by 32.5% in the third quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 65,819 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock valued at $2,025,000 after acquiring an additional 16,134 shares during the period. KBC Group NV lifted its position in Range Resources by 11.5% during the third quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 6,696 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock valued at $206,000 after purchasing an additional 688 shares during the last quarter. OneDigital Investment Advisors LLC lifted its position in Range Resources by 11.2% during the third quarter. OneDigital Investment Advisors LLC now owns 54,718 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock valued at $1,683,000 after purchasing an additional 5,517 shares during the last quarter. Pathstone Holdings LLC lifted its position in Range Resources by 3.7% during the third quarter. Pathstone Holdings LLC now owns 89,683 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock valued at $2,759,000 after purchasing an additional 3,238 shares during the last quarter. Finally, W.G. Shaheen & Associates DBA Whitney & Co lifted its position in Range Resources by 62.6% during the third quarter. W.G. Shaheen & Associates DBA Whitney & Co now owns 298,988 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock valued at $9,197,000 after purchasing an additional 115,142 shares during the last quarter. 98.93% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Range Resources Stock Performance

Shares of RRC traded up $0.84 during trading hours on Wednesday, hitting $40.48. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 1,874,245 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,297,991. The company has a market cap of $9.77 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.44, a PEG ratio of 5.11 and a beta of 1.80. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.28, a current ratio of 0.54 and a quick ratio of 0.54. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $38.47 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $34.62. Range Resources has a 52-week low of $27.29 and a 52-week high of $41.95.

Range Resources (NYSE:RRC) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 25th. The oil and gas exploration company reported $0.68 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.55 by $0.13. Range Resources had a net margin of 17.63% and a return on equity of 13.69%. The company had revenue of $626.42 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $676.53 million. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.63 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts expect that Range Resources will post 2.02 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Range Resources Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be given a $0.09 dividend. This is a positive change from Range Resources’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.08. This represents a $0.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.89%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 14th. Range Resources’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 32.73%.

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.