RPC (NYSE:RES) Shares Gap Up After Dividend Announcement

RPC, Inc. (NYSE:RES) gapped up before the market opened on Thursday following a dividend announcement from the company. The stock had previously closed at $6.42, but opened at $6.72. RPC shares last traded at $6.25, with a volume of 275,899 shares traded.

The newly announced dividend which will be paid on Monday, March 10th. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 10th will be given a $0.04 dividend. This represents a $0.16 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.60%. RPC’s payout ratio is 28.57%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on RES. Stifel Nicolaus dropped their price objective on RPC from $8.00 to $7.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, October 11th. Susquehanna decreased their price target on shares of RPC from $6.50 to $6.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, October 25th.

RPC Price Performance

The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $6.26 and its 200-day simple moving average is $6.30. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.32 billion, a PE ratio of 10.99 and a beta of 1.59.

RPC (NYSE:RES) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 30th. The oil and gas company reported $0.06 earnings per share for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.06. RPC had a return on equity of 11.36% and a net margin of 8.07%. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that RPC, Inc. will post 0.43 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On RPC

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Pacer Advisors Inc. raised its position in shares of RPC by 38.9% in the 3rd quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 12,029,993 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $76,511,000 after purchasing an additional 3,371,490 shares during the last quarter. Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in RPC during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $5,917,000. Van ECK Associates Corp increased its stake in RPC by 27.2% during the 4th quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 2,838,991 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $16,863,000 after purchasing an additional 607,255 shares in the last quarter. Marshall Wace LLP purchased a new position in shares of RPC in the second quarter worth $3,349,000. Finally, AQR Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of RPC by 55.3% during the second quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 692,169 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $4,326,000 after buying an additional 246,482 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 41.06% of the company’s stock.

RPC Company Profile

RPC, Inc, through its subsidiaries, engages provision of a range of oilfield services and equipment for the oil and gas companies involved in the exploration, production, and development of oil and gas properties. The company operates through Technical Services and Support Services segments. The Technical Services segment offers pressure pumping, fracturing, acidizing, cementing, downhole tools, coiled tubing, snubbing, nitrogen, well control, wireline, pump down, and fishing services that are used in the completion, production, and maintenance of oil and gas wells.