Range Resources Co. (NYSE:RRC) Short Interest Up 19.7% in February

Range Resources Co. (NYSE:RRC) saw a significant increase in short interest in February. As of February 28th, there was short interest totalling 13,040,000 shares, an increase of 19.7% from the February 13th total of 10,890,000 shares. Currently, 5.5% of the company’s shares are short sold. Based on an average trading volume of 2,690,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 4.8 days.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Range Resources

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of RRC. Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. increased its holdings in Range Resources by 71.3% in the 4th quarter. Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. now owns 5,057,280 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock worth $181,961,000 after buying an additional 2,104,304 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP bought a new stake in shares of Range Resources during the 4th quarter valued at about $33,684,000. Amundi grew its stake in shares of Range Resources by 233.2% during the 4th quarter. Amundi now owns 1,180,913 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock valued at $44,308,000 after purchasing an additional 826,530 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its stake in shares of Range Resources by 9.3% during the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 7,330,676 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock valued at $263,768,000 after purchasing an additional 624,955 shares during the period. Finally, Northern Trust Corp grew its stake in shares of Range Resources by 37.1% during the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 2,238,863 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock valued at $80,554,000 after purchasing an additional 605,315 shares during the period. 98.93% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

RRC has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Royal Bank of Canada restated a “sector perform” rating and set a $40.00 target price on shares of Range Resources in a report on Tuesday, January 14th. Barclays set a $43.00 price objective on Range Resources and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, February 27th. Mizuho increased their price objective on Range Resources from $40.00 to $47.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, December 16th. Bank of America upgraded Range Resources from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $34.00 to $45.00 in a report on Monday, January 13th. Finally, Piper Sandler increased their price objective on Range Resources from $32.00 to $33.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, March 6th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have assigned a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $39.95.

Range Resources Stock Up 1.7 %

Shares of RRC traded up $0.65 during trading hours on Tuesday, hitting $39.62. The company had a trading volume of 2,278,027 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,296,994. Range Resources has a 52-week low of $27.29 and a 52-week high of $41.95. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $38.41 and a 200-day moving average price of $34.58. The stock has a market capitalization of $9.56 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.01, a P/E/G ratio of 5.11 and a beta of 1.80. 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 (NYSE:RRC) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 25th. The oil and gas exploration company reported $0.68 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.55 by $0.13. Range Resources had a return on equity of 13.69% and a net margin of 17.63%. The company had revenue of $626.42 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $676.53 million. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.63 EPS. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Range Resources will post 2.02 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Range Resources Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 28th. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th will be issued a $0.09 dividend. This represents a $0.36 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.91%. This is an increase from Range Resources’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.08. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. Range Resources’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 32.73%.

Range Resources Company 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.