California Resources Corporation (NYSE:CRC) Given Average Rating of “Moderate Buy” by Brokerages

California Resources Corporation (NYSE:CRC) has been given a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” by the fourteen brokerages that are covering the firm, Marketbeat.com reports. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, one has assigned a hold rating, ten have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. The average twelve-month target price among brokers that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $73.0909.

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Weiss Ratings lowered shares of California Resources from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “sell (d+)” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 14th. Wall Street Zen downgraded California Resources from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 23rd. Citigroup lowered their price objective on California Resources from $78.00 to $70.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, June 30th. Mizuho upped their price objective on California Resources from $86.00 to $87.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 27th. Finally, Zacks Research cut California Resources from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 15th.

Insider Activity

In related news, EVP Jay A. Bys sold 11,907 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $54.00, for a total transaction of $642,978.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 159,424 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,608,896. This represents a 6.95% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 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 institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in CRC. AQR Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of California Resources by 89.1% in the 1st quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 46,532 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $2,046,000 after buying an additional 21,923 shares during the last quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. grew its position in shares of California Resources by 6.1% during the 1st quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 41,663 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $1,832,000 after buying an additional 2,394 shares during the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. grew its position in shares of California Resources by 38.2% during the 1st quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 657,628 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $28,916,000 after buying an additional 181,833 shares during the last quarter. Empowered Funds LLC raised its stake in California Resources by 3.8% during the first quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 50,786 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $2,233,000 after acquiring an additional 1,857 shares during the period. Finally, Intech Investment Management LLC raised its stake in California Resources by 17.7% during the first quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC now owns 31,870 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $1,401,000 after acquiring an additional 4,783 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 97.79% of the company’s stock.

California Resources Stock Up 2.0%

Shares of NYSE:CRC opened at $53.28 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 0.55, a quick ratio of 0.47 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $56.55 and a 200 day simple moving average of $58.10. The firm has a market cap of $4.73 billion, a PE ratio of -10.25 and a beta of 0.92. California Resources has a 12-month low of $43.24 and a 12-month high of $71.98.

California Resources (NYSE:CRC) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, May 5th. The oil and gas producer reported $0.88 EPS for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.88. The firm had revenue of $119.00 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $947.50 million. California Resources had a negative net margin of 16.10% and a positive return on equity of 10.12%. The firm’s revenue was down 87.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.07 EPS. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that California Resources will post 4.02 EPS for the current fiscal year.

California Resources Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 18th. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 29th were issued a $0.405 dividend. This represents a $1.62 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.0%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, May 29th. California Resources’s payout ratio is -31.15%.

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.