Essex Investment Management Co. LLC Reduces Holdings in Range Resources Co. (NYSE:RRC)

Essex Investment Management Co. LLC lowered its position in shares of Range Resources Co. (NYSE:RRC) by 58.3% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,091 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock after selling 1,525 shares during the period. Essex Investment Management Co. LLC’s holdings in Range Resources were worth $39,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in RRC. Amundi raised its stake in shares of Range Resources by 233.2% during the fourth quarter. Amundi now owns 1,180,913 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock valued at $44,308,000 after purchasing an additional 826,530 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its stake in shares of Range Resources by 61.9% during the third 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 purchasing an additional 604,199 shares during the period. HITE Hedge Asset Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Range Resources during the third quarter valued at approximately $11,508,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Range Resources during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $13,088,000. Finally, Verition Fund Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Range Resources by 379.3% during the third quarter. Verition Fund Management LLC now owns 409,427 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock valued at $12,594,000 after purchasing an additional 324,011 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 98.93% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts recently issued reports on RRC shares. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on shares of Range Resources from $38.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 17th. UBS Group lifted their price target on shares of Range Resources from $39.00 to $41.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Benchmark restated a “hold” rating on shares of Range Resources in a research note on Friday, January 17th. Scotiabank lowered shares of Range Resources from a “sector outperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating and set a $45.00 price target for the company. in a research note on Friday, January 17th. Finally, Citigroup lowered shares of Range Resources from a “neutral” rating to a “reduce” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 5th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Range Resources presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $39.11.

Range Resources Stock Performance

Shares of RRC opened at $36.51 on Tuesday. Range Resources Co. has a 1 year low of $27.29 and a 1 year high of $41.95. The company has a market cap of $8.81 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.44, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.11 and a beta of 1.80. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.28, a quick ratio of 0.54 and a current ratio of 0.54. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $38.17 and a 200-day moving average of $34.23.

Range Resources (NYSE:RRC) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 25th. The oil and gas exploration company reported $0.68 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 the consensus estimate of $676.53 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.63 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Range Resources Co. will post 2.02 earnings per share for the current year.

Range Resources Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be issued a dividend of $0.09 per share. This is an increase from Range Resources’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.08. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 14th. This represents a $0.36 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.99%. Range Resources’s payout ratio is 32.73%.

Range Resources 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.