California Resources (NYSE:CRC) Upgraded by Wall Street Zen to “Hold” Rating

Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of California Resources (NYSE:CRC) from a sell rating to a hold rating in a report released on Monday.

Several other equities analysts have also recently commented on CRC. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on shares of California Resources from $72.00 to $76.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 17th. Citigroup boosted their price objective on shares of California Resources from $67.00 to $74.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, March 30th. Zacks Research raised shares of California Resources from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, March 27th. Barclays boosted their price target on shares of California Resources from $67.00 to $72.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, March 16th. Finally, UBS Group boosted their price target on shares of California Resources from $63.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 5th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have issued a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $70.50.

California Resources Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:CRC opened at $67.68 on Monday. The company has a 50 day moving average of $60.48 and a 200 day moving average of $52.39. The stock has a market cap of $6.01 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.59 and a beta of 1.04. California Resources has a 12 month low of $30.97 and a 12 month high of $71.98. The company has a current ratio of 0.89, a quick ratio of 0.79 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.35.

California Resources (NYSE:CRC) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Monday, March 2nd. The oil and gas producer reported $0.47 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.49 by ($0.02). The firm had revenue of $924.00 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $789.67 million. California Resources had a net margin of 9.89% and a return on equity of 10.23%. California Resources’s revenue was up 5.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.91 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that California Resources will post 3.85 EPS for the current fiscal year.

California Resources Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 20th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 13th were paid a $0.405 dividend. This represents a $1.62 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 13th. California Resources’s payout ratio is currently 39.71%.

Insider Activity at California Resources

In other California Resources news, COO Omar Hayat sold 23,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $65.87, for a total value of $1,515,010.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer owned 82,236 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,416,885.32. The trade was a 21.86% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, EVP Christopher D. 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 transaction of $1,514,626.87. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president directly 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. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold 72,283 shares of company stock worth $4,636,646 in the last 90 days. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On California Resources

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. American Century Companies Inc. boosted its stake in shares of California Resources by 5.6% in the 3rd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 3,006,430 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $159,882,000 after purchasing an additional 159,708 shares in the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of California Resources by 23.9% in the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 468,669 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $24,924,000 after purchasing an additional 90,466 shares in the last quarter. Channing Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of California Resources in the 3rd quarter valued at $6,205,000. Clayton Partners LLC boosted its stake in shares of California Resources by 35.2% in the 3rd quarter. Clayton Partners LLC now owns 136,100 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $7,238,000 after purchasing an additional 35,461 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Deroy & Devereaux Private Investment Counsel Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of California Resources in the 3rd quarter valued at $2,200,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors 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.