Range Resources’ (RRC) “Hold” Rating Reaffirmed at Benchmark

Benchmark reiterated their hold rating on shares of Range Resources (NYSE:RRC) in a research note issued to investors on Wednesday morning, Benzinga reports.

Several other equities analysts have also commented on RRC. Wells Fargo & Company upgraded Range Resources from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and raised their price target for the company from $35.00 to $39.00 in a research note on Tuesday, October 1st. The Goldman Sachs Group cut their target price on shares of Range Resources from $40.00 to $35.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, September 6th. Susquehanna lowered their price target on shares of Range Resources from $36.00 to $31.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, September 4th. Barclays raised shares of Range Resources from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and cut their price objective for the company from $35.00 to $34.00 in a report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Finally, Stephens upped their target price on Range Resources from $36.00 to $37.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Range Resources presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $35.12.

Range Resources Trading Up 3.4 %

Shares of RRC opened at $30.93 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.28, a current ratio of 0.58 and a quick ratio of 0.58. The firm has a market capitalization of $7.50 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.70 and a beta of 1.80. The company has a 50-day moving average of $30.19 and a 200 day moving average of $33.09. Range Resources has a 1-year low of $27.29 and a 1-year high of $39.33.

Range Resources (NYSE:RRC) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 22nd. The oil and gas exploration company reported $0.48 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.32 by $0.16. The firm had revenue of $615.03 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $617.90 million. Range Resources had a return on equity of 13.93% and a net margin of 17.62%. Range Resources’s quarterly revenue was up .9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.43 earnings per share. On average, research analysts expect that Range Resources will post 1.88 EPS for the current year.

Range Resources Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 27th. Shareholders of record on Friday, September 13th were paid a dividend of $0.08 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, September 13th. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.03%. Range Resources’s payout ratio is 16.24%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, VP Ashley Kavanaugh sold 12,700 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, September 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $31.45, for a total transaction of $399,415.00. Following the sale, the vice president now directly owns 9,670 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $304,121.50. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 1.57% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Range Resources

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD raised its stake in shares of Range Resources by 25.2% in the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 28,633,567 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock worth $985,855,000 after purchasing an additional 5,759,883 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in Range Resources by 4.1% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 24,490,639 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock worth $843,213,000 after buying an additional 959,011 shares during the last quarter. Boston Partners lifted its stake in Range Resources by 2.1% during the 1st quarter. Boston Partners now owns 6,531,086 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock valued at $224,912,000 after acquiring an additional 133,565 shares during the period. Lingotto Investment Management LLP boosted its holdings in shares of Range Resources by 1.5% in the 2nd quarter. Lingotto Investment Management LLP now owns 6,451,726 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock valued at $216,326,000 after acquiring an additional 93,782 shares during the last quarter. Finally, KGH Ltd increased its stake in shares of Range Resources by 3.2% in the second quarter. KGH Ltd now owns 6,080,000 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock worth $203,862,000 after acquiring an additional 190,000 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 98.93% of the company’s stock.

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.