Insider Selling: California Resources (NYSE:CRC) EVP Sells 24,347 Shares of Stock

California Resources Corporation (NYSE:CRC) EVP Christopher Gould sold 24,347 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $62.21, for a total value of $1,514,626.87. Following the sale, the executive vice president owned 131,537 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,182,916.77. This represents a 15.62% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink.

California Resources Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE CRC traded down $0.73 during trading hours on Thursday, reaching $62.10. 1,932,386 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 823,082. The firm has a market capitalization of $5.50 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.32 and a beta of 1.12. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.35, a quick ratio of 0.79 and a current ratio of 0.89. California Resources Corporation has a 52 week low of $30.97 and a 52 week high of $66.35. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $53.80 and its 200 day simple moving average is $50.65.

California Resources (NYSE:CRC) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, March 2nd. The oil and gas producer reported $0.47 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.49 by ($0.02). California Resources had a net margin of 9.89% and a return on equity of 10.23%. The firm had revenue of $924.00 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $789.67 million. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.91 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.4% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts predict that California Resources Corporation will post 3.85 EPS for the current year.

California Resources Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 20th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 13th will be issued a dividend of $0.405 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 13th. This represents a $1.62 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.6%. California Resources’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 39.71%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts recently commented on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on shares of California Resources from $56.00 to $72.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 4th. TD Cowen upgraded shares of California Resources to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, February 9th. Mizuho boosted their price objective on shares of California Resources from $71.00 to $72.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, December 12th. Zacks Research upgraded shares of California Resources from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 19th. Finally, Barclays raised their target price on shares of California Resources from $65.00 to $67.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 3rd. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have issued a Buy rating and four have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, California Resources presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $66.90.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC bought a new stake in California Resources during the fourth quarter worth about $26,000. Clearstead Advisors LLC grew its stake in California Resources by 82.5% during the third quarter. Clearstead Advisors LLC now owns 500 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $27,000 after buying an additional 226 shares in the last quarter. Pinnacle Holdings LLC bought a new position in California Resources in the 4th quarter valued at about $27,000. Salomon & Ludwin LLC bought a new position in California Resources in the 3rd quarter valued at about $29,000. Finally, FNY Investment Advisers LLC acquired a new position in shares of California Resources in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $36,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 97.79% of the company’s stock.

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.