Comstock Resources, Inc. (NYSE:CRK) Sees Significant Drop in Short Interest

Comstock Resources, Inc. (NYSE:CRK) was the target of a large decline in short interest during the month of September. As of September 30th, there was short interest totalling 25,170,000 shares, a decline of 7.4% from the September 15th total of 27,180,000 shares. Currently, 32.3% of the company’s stock are sold short. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 3,190,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 7.9 days.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts recently commented on CRK shares. Piper Sandler downgraded shares of Comstock Resources from a “neutral” rating to an “underweight” rating and decreased their price target for the company from $8.00 to $5.00 in a research note on Thursday, August 15th. Truist Financial upped their price target on shares of Comstock Resources from $9.00 to $10.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, September 30th. BMO Capital Markets raised their price target on shares of Comstock Resources from $10.00 to $11.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Friday, October 4th. Mizuho lowered their target price on shares of Comstock Resources from $11.00 to $10.00 and set an “underperform” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, September 16th. Finally, 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. Five analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $9.79.

Comstock Resources Stock Performance

NYSE CRK traded up $0.03 during trading hours on Thursday, reaching $11.61. The stock had a trading volume of 1,167,523 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,656,482. The stock has a market cap of $3.39 billion, a P/E ratio of 52.77 and a beta of 0.47. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $10.75 and a 200 day moving average of $10.50. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.21, a quick ratio of 0.59 and a current ratio of 0.59. Comstock Resources has a 52-week low of $7.07 and a 52-week high of $13.39.

Comstock Resources (NYSE:CRK) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, July 30th. The oil and gas producer reported ($0.20) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.16) by ($0.04). The business had revenue of $246.80 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $296.02 million. Comstock Resources had a negative return on equity of 1.38% and a negative net margin of 1.48%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 14.4% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts predict that Comstock Resources will post -0.37 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity

In other Comstock Resources news, major shareholder Drilling L.P. Arkoma acquired 825,868 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 9th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $9.76 per share, for a total transaction of $8,060,471.68. Following the completion of the purchase, the insider now owns 198,949,901 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,941,751,033.76. This trade represents a 0.00 % increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In related news, major shareholder Star Exploration Corp Blue purchased 825,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 5th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $8.16 per share, with a total value of $6,732,000.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the insider now directly owns 195,646,429 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,596,474,860.64. This trade represents a 0.00 % increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, major shareholder Drilling L.P. Arkoma bought 825,868 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, August 9th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $9.76 per share, with a total value of $8,060,471.68. Following the acquisition, the insider now directly owns 198,949,901 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,941,751,033.76. This trade represents a 0.00 % increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders bought a total of 6,712,733 shares of company stock worth $67,816,851 in the last three months. 1.50% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Comstock Resources

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of CRK. Virtu Financial LLC boosted its holdings in Comstock Resources by 537.8% in the 4th quarter. Virtu Financial LLC now owns 64,197 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $568,000 after purchasing an additional 54,132 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Comstock Resources by 0.3% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 10,829,100 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $95,838,000 after acquiring an additional 34,231 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its holdings in shares of Comstock Resources by 428.9% during the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 4,771 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $44,000 after purchasing an additional 3,869 shares during the period. Sanders Morris Harris LLC purchased a new position in shares of Comstock Resources in the 1st quarter valued at $1,717,000. Finally, Ballentine Partners LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Comstock Resources in the first quarter valued at about $138,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 36.13% of the company’s stock.

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.