King Luther Capital Management Corp Raises Stock Holdings in Range Resources Co. (NYSE:RRC)

King Luther Capital Management Corp boosted its position in shares of Range Resources Co. (NYSE:RRC) by 1.3% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 31,410 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock after buying an additional 390 shares during the quarter. King Luther Capital Management Corp’s holdings in Range Resources were worth $1,130,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Amundi increased its position in shares of Range Resources by 233.2% in 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 acquiring an additional 826,530 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its stake in shares of Range Resources by 61.9% in the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 1,579,579 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock worth $48,588,000 after purchasing an additional 604,199 shares during the last quarter. HITE Hedge Asset Management LLC purchased a new position in Range Resources during the 3rd quarter valued at about $11,508,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new position in Range Resources during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $13,088,000. Finally, Verition Fund Management LLC lifted its holdings in Range Resources by 379.3% in the 3rd quarter. Verition Fund Management LLC now owns 409,427 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock worth $12,594,000 after buying an additional 324,011 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 98.93% of the company’s stock.

Range Resources Price Performance

RRC opened at $37.41 on Friday. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $38.23 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $34.30. Range Resources Co. has a 52-week low of $27.29 and a 52-week high of $41.95. The stock has a market capitalization of $9.03 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.90, a P/E/G 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.

Range Resources (NYSE:RRC) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, February 25th. The oil and gas exploration company reported $0.68 earnings per share 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 business had revenue of $626.42 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $676.53 million. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.63 EPS. As a group, analysts predict that Range Resources Co. will post 2.02 EPS for the current year.

Range Resources Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be issued a dividend of $0.09 per share. This is a boost from Range Resources’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.08. This represents a $0.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.96%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. Range Resources’s dividend payout ratio is currently 32.73%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

RRC has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Benchmark reissued a “hold” rating on shares of Range Resources in a research note on Friday, January 17th. Wolfe Research upgraded shares of Range Resources from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $42.00 price objective for the company in a report on Friday, January 3rd. Bank of America raised shares of Range Resources from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their target price for the stock from $34.00 to $45.00 in a research report on Monday, January 13th. UBS Group increased 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. Finally, Scotiabank cut Range Resources from a “sector outperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating and set a $45.00 target price for the company. in a research note on Friday, January 17th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have assigned a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $39.84.

About Range Resources

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.