California Resources (NYSE:CRC) Cut to “Hold” at Wall Street Zen

California Resources (NYSE:CRC) was downgraded by stock analysts at Wall Street Zen from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report issued on Tuesday.

CRC has been the topic of several other reports. UBS Group set a $78.00 price objective on California Resources and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, May 11th. Weiss Ratings lowered California Resources from a “hold (c)” rating to a “hold (c-)” rating in a report on Friday, May 8th. Barclays boosted their price target on California Resources from $72.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 26th. Mizuho upped their price target on California Resources from $86.00 to $87.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 27th. Finally, Citigroup upgraded California Resources from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $74.00 to $78.00 in a report on Wednesday, May 20th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, ten have assigned a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, California Resources currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $73.50.

California Resources Stock Down 1.1%

Shares of California Resources stock opened at $54.68 on Tuesday. The company has a current ratio of 0.55, a quick ratio of 0.47 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45. California Resources has a 12-month low of $43.24 and a 12-month high of $71.98. The company has a market cap of $4.85 billion, a P/E ratio of -10.51 and a beta of 0.91. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $61.53 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $57.10.

California Resources (NYSE:CRC) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, May 5th. The oil and gas producer reported $0.88 EPS for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $0.88. The firm had revenue of $119.00 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $947.50 million. California Resources had a negative net margin of 16.10% and a positive return on equity of 10.12%. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 87.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company posted $1.07 EPS. Research analysts anticipate that California Resources will post 5.56 EPS for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, EVP Jay A. Bys sold 11,907 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, June 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $61.68, for a total transaction of $734,423.76. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president owned 171,331 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $10,567,696.08. This represents a 6.50% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Corporate insiders own 0.53% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of California Resources

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. AQR Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in California Resources by 89.1% during the first quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 46,532 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $2,046,000 after purchasing an additional 21,923 shares in the last quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. boosted its position in shares of California Resources by 6.1% in the first quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 41,663 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $1,832,000 after purchasing an additional 2,394 shares during the period. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of California Resources by 38.2% in the first quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 657,628 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $28,916,000 after purchasing an additional 181,833 shares in the last quarter. Empowered Funds LLC increased its stake in shares of California Resources by 3.8% in the first quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 50,786 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $2,233,000 after purchasing an additional 1,857 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Intech Investment Management LLC raised its position in shares of California Resources by 17.7% during the 1st quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC now owns 31,870 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $1,401,000 after purchasing an additional 4,783 shares during the period. 97.79% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

About California Resources

California Resources Corporation (NYSE: CRC) is an independent exploration and production company focused exclusively on developing oil and natural gas assets in California. Headquartered in Newport Beach, the company engages in hydraulic fracturing, well completions, reservoir management and enhanced recovery operations to produce crude oil, natural gas and natural gas liquids.

CRC’s operations are concentrated in three core regions: the Los Angeles Basin, the Ventura Basin and the San Joaquin Basin.