Traders Buy High Volume of Comstock Resources Call Options (NYSE:CRK)

Comstock Resources, Inc. (NYSE:CRK) was the recipient of some unusual options trading activity on Tuesday. Stock investors purchased 4,517 call options on the company. This is an increase of 92% compared to the average daily volume of 2,353 call options.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Elizabeth B. Davis sold 10,000 shares of Comstock Resources stock in a transaction dated Thursday, December 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $15.62, for a total transaction of $156,200.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 143,781 shares in the company, valued at $2,245,859.22. This trade represents a 6.50 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 30,000 shares of company stock valued at $489,300. 2.00% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Comstock Resources

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its stake in Comstock Resources by 26.3% in the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 11,696,540 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $121,414,000 after purchasing an additional 2,438,252 shares in the last quarter. KGH Ltd raised its holdings in shares of Comstock Resources by 8.7% in the second quarter. KGH Ltd now owns 12,125,000 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $125,858,000 after buying an additional 975,000 shares during the last quarter. Millennium Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Comstock Resources by 775.4% during the second quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 875,371 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $9,086,000 after buying an additional 775,371 shares during the period. HITE Hedge Asset Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Comstock Resources during the second quarter valued at $6,544,000. Finally, American Century Companies Inc. increased its position in shares of Comstock Resources by 19.0% in the 2nd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 2,270,435 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $23,567,000 after acquiring an additional 362,043 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 36.13% of the company’s stock.

Comstock Resources Trading Down 3.7 %

NYSE:CRK opened at $18.22 on Thursday. The stock has a market capitalization of $5.32 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -101.22 and a beta of 0.57. Comstock Resources has a 52 week low of $7.07 and a 52 week high of $19.25. The company has a quick ratio of 0.60, a current ratio of 0.60 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.25. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $14.78 and a 200 day moving average of $12.06.

Comstock Resources (NYSE:CRK) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 30th. The oil and gas producer reported ($0.17) earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.16) by ($0.01). Comstock Resources had a negative return on equity of 3.88% and a negative net margin of 4.93%. The business had revenue of $304.50 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $308.75 million. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.04 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 19.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Comstock Resources will post -0.44 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on CRK. Bank of America began coverage on Comstock Resources in a report on Monday, October 28th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $14.00 price target for the company. Citigroup increased their price target on Comstock Resources from $12.50 to $15.50 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, December 6th. BMO Capital Markets raised their price target on Comstock Resources from $10.00 to $11.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Friday, October 4th. Siebert Williams Shank lowered shares of Comstock Resources from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating and set a $9.00 price objective for the company. in a research note on Tuesday, October 15th. Finally, Mizuho raised shares of Comstock Resources from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and raised their target price for the company from $10.00 to $18.00 in a research report on Monday, December 16th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $11.78.

About Comstock Resources

Comstock Resources, Inc, an independent energy company, engages in the acquisition, exploration, development, and production of natural gas and oil properties in the United States. Its assets are located in the Haynesville and Bossier shales located in North Louisiana and East Texas. The company was incorporated in 1919 and is headquartered in Frisco, Texas.