Investors Purchase Large Volume of Range Resources Call Options (NYSE:RRC)

Range Resources Corporation (NYSE:RRC) was the target of some unusual options trading on Thursday. Traders bought 10,901 call options on the stock. This represents an increase of approximately 1,062% compared to the average volume of 938 call options.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Range Resources news, Director Reginal Spiller sold 3,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $40.00, for a total transaction of $140,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 13,421 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $536,840. This represents a 20.68% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Company insiders own 1.10% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Range Resources

Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of RRC. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. bought a new position in shares of Range Resources in the second quarter worth approximately $26,000. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. bought a new stake in shares of Range Resources during the second quarter valued at approximately $31,000. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Range Resources during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $34,000. Ameritas Advisory Services LLC purchased a new position in Range Resources in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $44,000. Finally, Root Financial Partners LLC raised its holdings in Range Resources by 37.8% in the 1st quarter. Root Financial Partners LLC now owns 1,006 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock worth $45,000 after acquiring an additional 276 shares during the last quarter. 98.93% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms recently weighed in on RRC. Zacks Research upgraded Range Resources from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 19th. Stifel Nicolaus began coverage on Range Resources in a research report on Thursday. They set a “hold” rating and a $46.00 price target on the stock. Raymond James Financial set a $45.00 price target on Range Resources in a research note on Monday, July 27th. Stephens raised their price objective on Range Resources from $52.00 to $53.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 22nd. Finally, Barclays upped their target price on shares of Range Resources from $40.00 to $42.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, three have issued a Buy rating, fifteen have given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $43.88.

Range Resources Stock Up 1.0%

NYSE:RRC traded up $0.41 during trading hours on Thursday, reaching $42.15. 746,250 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 3,149,690. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $39.41 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $40.55. The stock has a market capitalization of $9.85 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.64 and a beta of 0.43. Range Resources has a 1 year low of $32.68 and a 1 year high of $48.31. The company has a current ratio of 0.65, a quick ratio of 0.65 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18.

Range Resources (NYSE:RRC) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, July 21st. The oil and gas exploration company reported $0.79 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.66 by $0.13. Range Resources had a return on equity of 18.63% and a net margin of 25.04%.The business had revenue of $759.58 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $744.78 million. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.66 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 2.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts predict that Range Resources will post 3.62 earnings per share for the current year.

Range Resources Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 25th. Investors of record on Friday, September 11th will be paid a $0.10 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, September 11th. This represents a $0.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.9%. Range Resources’s payout ratio is presently 11.05%.

Range Resources Company Profile

Range Resources Corporation, headquartered in Fort Worth, Texas, is an independent energy company engaged in the exploration, development and production of natural gas, oil and natural gas liquids. The company focuses its core operations on the Appalachian Basin, with a significant presence in Pennsylvania’s Marcellus Shale. Through its drilling and completion activities, Range Resources seeks to optimize production efficiency while maintaining a disciplined approach to capital allocation and cost management.

The company’s technical expertise centers on advanced horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing techniques, which it applies to unlock unconventional resources.