Versant Capital Management Inc Raises Position in Range Resources Co. (NYSE:RRC)

Versant Capital Management Inc lifted its stake in shares of Range Resources Co. (NYSE:RRC) by 42.8% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 1,544 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock after buying an additional 463 shares during the quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc’s holdings in Range Resources were worth $56,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Brooklyn Investment Group acquired a new stake in shares of Range Resources in the 3rd quarter valued at $25,000. Blue Trust Inc. increased its holdings in Range Resources by 107.8% in the third quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 1,359 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock valued at $46,000 after buying an additional 705 shares during the last quarter. Bogart Wealth LLC acquired a new stake in Range Resources in the third quarter valued at $49,000. CWM LLC lifted its holdings in Range Resources by 276.8% during the 3rd quarter. CWM LLC now owns 2,306 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock worth $71,000 after buying an additional 1,694 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Hara Capital LLC acquired a new position in shares of Range Resources during the 3rd quarter worth about $92,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 98.93% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

RRC has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Benchmark restated a “hold” rating on shares of Range Resources in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. UBS Group upgraded shares of Range Resources from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $28.00 to $35.00 in a research report on Monday, December 9th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on shares of Range Resources from $38.00 to $40.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 17th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price target on shares of Range Resources from $37.00 to $31.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, September 12th. Finally, Wolfe Research upgraded shares of Range Resources from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $42.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Friday. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have issued a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $36.32.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director Charles G. Griffie bought 1,275 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, October 24th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $31.46 per share, for a total transaction of $40,111.50. Following the transaction, the director now owns 5,921 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $186,274.66. This trade represents a 27.44 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. 1.57% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Range Resources Stock Down 0.4 %

Shares of Range Resources stock opened at $35.91 on Monday. The company has a market cap of $8.67 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.14 and a beta of 1.81. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $34.13 and a two-hundred day moving average of $32.23. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.28, a quick ratio of 0.54 and a current ratio of 0.54. Range Resources Co. has a one year low of $27.29 and a one year high of $39.33.

Range Resources (NYSE:RRC) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 22nd. The oil and gas exploration company reported $0.48 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.32 by $0.16. Range Resources had a net margin of 17.63% and a return on equity of 13.69%. The firm had revenue of $615.03 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $617.90 million. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.43 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up .9% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts forecast that Range Resources Co. will post 1.91 earnings per share for the current year.

Range Resources Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 27th. Investors of record on Friday, December 13th were issued a dividend of $0.08 per share. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.89%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, December 13th. Range Resources’s dividend payout ratio is presently 16.16%.

Range Resources Profile

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.