Stifel Nicolaus Begins Coverage on California Resources (NYSE:CRC)

Equities research analysts at Stifel Nicolaus assumed coverage on shares of California Resources (NYSE:CRC) in a research note issued on Thursday. The brokerage set a “buy” rating and a $68.00 price target on the oil and gas producer’s stock. Stifel Nicolaus’ price objective suggests a potential upside of 21.61% from the company’s previous close.

A number of other analysts have also recently weighed in on CRC. Barclays set a $74.00 price target on California Resources and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, August 17th. Seaport Research Partners started coverage on California Resources in a report on Thursday, September 3rd. They set a “neutral” rating on the stock. Mizuho raised their price objective on California Resources from $86.00 to $87.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 27th. Wall Street Zen lowered California Resources from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, June 23rd. Finally, Weiss Ratings upgraded California Resources from a “sell (d+)” rating to a “hold (c-)” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 11th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eleven have assigned a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $71.92.

California Resources Stock Down 1.4%

Shares of CRC stock traded down $0.78 during trading on Thursday, hitting $55.92. 27,671 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 881,547. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $52.76 and its 200 day simple moving average is $58.59. California Resources has a twelve month low of $43.24 and a twelve month high of $71.98. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.97 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -41.16 and a beta of 0.90. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.38, a quick ratio of 0.56 and a current ratio of 0.66.

California Resources (NYSE:CRC) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Monday, August 10th. The oil and gas producer reported $0.99 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.36 by ($0.37). California Resources had a positive return on equity of 9.82% and a negative net margin of 3.79%.The company had revenue of $1.30 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $960.20 million. During the same period last year, the company posted $1.10 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 33.0% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts forecast that California Resources will post 3.9 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at California Resources

In related news, EVP Jay Bys sold 11,907 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, September 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $54.00, for a total transaction of $642,978.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president owned 135,610 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,322,940. The trade was a 8.07% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders sold 35,721 shares of company stock valued at $1,928,934 in the last 90 days. Insiders own 0.53% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of California Resources

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its position in California Resources by 17.8% in the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 4,181,806 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $186,968,000 after buying an additional 632,170 shares during the period. California State Teachers Retirement System boosted its position in shares of California Resources by 5,203.8% in the second quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System now owns 4,049,102 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $214,076,000 after acquiring an additional 3,972,759 shares during the period. State Street Corp boosted its position in shares of California Resources by 14.7% in the fourth quarter. State Street Corp now owns 3,842,223 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $171,786,000 after acquiring an additional 491,751 shares during the period. Victory Capital Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of California Resources by 200.7% in the fourth quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 2,344,493 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $104,822,000 after acquiring an additional 1,564,866 shares during the period. Finally, Sourcerock Group LLC grew its stake in shares of California Resources by 63.8% in the second quarter. Sourcerock Group LLC now owns 2,000,649 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $91,370,000 after acquiring an additional 779,280 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 97.79% of the company’s stock.

California Resources Company Profile

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.