Brokerages Set California Resources Co. (NYSE:CRC) Price Target at $66.40

California Resources Co. (NYSE:CRC) has received an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the twelve ratings firms that are currently covering the company, Marketbeat reports. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, nine have assigned a buy recommendation and one has assigned a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 12 month target price among brokers that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $66.09.

A number of brokerages have commented on CRC. Citigroup lifted their target price on shares of California Resources from $63.00 to $65.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 5th. UBS Group started coverage on shares of California Resources in a research report on Wednesday, October 16th. They set a “buy” rating and a $68.00 price target on the stock. Stephens began coverage on California Resources in a research report on Tuesday, October 22nd. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $73.00 price objective for the company. TD Cowen lifted their target price on California Resources from $65.00 to $74.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 26th. Finally, Barclays increased their price target on California Resources from $55.00 to $57.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, October 3rd.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP Omar Hayat sold 16,016 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, December 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $55.18, for a total transaction of $883,762.88. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 30,940 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,707,269.20. The trade was a 34.11 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, VP Noelle M. Repetti sold 8,770 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $55.75, for a total transaction of $488,927.50. Following the sale, the vice president now owns 8,531 shares in the company, valued at $475,603.25. The trade was a 50.69 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.63% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its holdings in California Resources by 61.5% during the 3rd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 974 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $51,000 after buying an additional 371 shares during the last quarter. Point72 DIFC Ltd purchased a new stake in California Resources during the third quarter worth approximately $70,000. KBC Group NV lifted its stake in California Resources by 29.1% during the third quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 1,910 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $100,000 after purchasing an additional 431 shares during the last quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in California Resources by 9.4% in the third quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 3,224 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $169,000 after purchasing an additional 276 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Atria Investments Inc purchased a new position in California Resources in the third quarter valued at approximately $209,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 97.79% of the company’s stock.

California Resources Price Performance

CRC stock opened at $50.78 on Thursday. California Resources has a 1 year low of $43.09 and a 1 year high of $60.41. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a current ratio of 0.97 and a quick ratio of 0.89. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.64 billion, a PE ratio of 8.00, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.35 and a beta of 1.01. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $55.02 and a 200-day simple moving average of $52.21.

California Resources (NYSE:CRC) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, November 5th. The oil and gas producer reported $1.50 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.88 by $0.62. California Resources had a return on equity of 12.16% and a net margin of 17.43%. The company had revenue of $1.35 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $973.13 million. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $1.02 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 194.1% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts anticipate that California Resources will post 3.58 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

California Resources Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 16th. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 2nd were given a dividend of $0.3875 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 2nd. This represents a $1.55 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.05%. California Resources’s dividend payout ratio is presently 24.41%.

California Resources Company Profile

California Resources Corporation operates as an independent oil and natural gas exploration and production, and carbon management company in the United States. The company explores, produces, and markets crude oil, natural gas, and natural gas liquids for marketers, California refineries, and other purchasers that have access to transportation and storage facilities.