Wolfe Research Upgrades Range Resources (NYSE:RRC) to “Outperform”

Range Resources (NYSE:RRC) was upgraded by equities researchers at Wolfe Research from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a report released on Friday,Briefing.com Automated Import reports. The brokerage currently has a $42.00 target price on the oil and gas exploration company’s stock. Wolfe Research’s price target indicates a potential upside of 16.50% from the stock’s previous close.

Other equities analysts have also issued reports about the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their target price on Range Resources from $37.00 to $31.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, September 12th. Barclays upgraded shares of Range Resources from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and dropped their target price for the company from $35.00 to $34.00 in a research report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Benchmark restated a “hold” rating on shares of Range Resources in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Morgan Stanley reduced their target price on Range Resources from $33.00 to $31.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, September 16th. Finally, Citigroup upped their price objective on Range Resources from $33.00 to $38.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, December 6th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have assigned a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $36.32.

Range Resources Trading Up 0.2 %

NYSE:RRC opened at $36.05 on Friday. Range Resources has a 1 year low of $27.29 and a 1 year high of $39.33. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $34.04 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $32.25. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.28, a current ratio of 0.54 and a quick ratio of 0.54. The company has a market cap of $8.70 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.21 and a beta of 1.85.

Range Resources (NYSE:RRC) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, October 22nd. The oil and gas exploration company reported $0.48 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.32 by $0.16. The business had revenue of $615.03 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $617.90 million. Range Resources had a net margin of 17.63% and a return on equity of 13.69%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up .9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.43 EPS. As a group, analysts expect that Range Resources will post 1.91 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Charles G. Griffie purchased 1,275 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, October 24th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $31.46 per share, with a total value of $40,111.50. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now directly owns 5,921 shares in the company, valued at approximately $186,274.66. This represents a 27.44 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 2.50% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in RRC. William Blair Investment Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Range Resources in the 2nd quarter worth about $78,223,000. Canoe Financial LP increased its stake in shares of Range Resources by 114.9% during the third quarter. Canoe Financial LP now owns 2,660,309 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock valued at $81,299,000 after purchasing an additional 1,422,200 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its stake in shares of Range Resources by 61.9% during the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 1,579,579 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock valued at $48,588,000 after purchasing an additional 604,199 shares in the last quarter. HITE Hedge Asset Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Range Resources during the third quarter valued at approximately $11,508,000. Finally, Verition Fund Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Range Resources by 379.3% in the 3rd quarter. Verition Fund Management LLC now owns 409,427 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock worth $12,594,000 after purchasing an additional 324,011 shares in the last quarter. 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.