William Blair Investment Management LLC Sells 700,349 Shares of Range Resources Co. (NYSE:RRC)

William Blair Investment Management LLC lessened its stake in Range Resources Co. (NYSE:RRC) by 30.5% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 1,594,616 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock after selling 700,349 shares during the period. William Blair Investment Management LLC owned 0.66% of Range Resources worth $57,374,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the business. NFC Investments LLC bought a new stake in shares of Range Resources during the 4th quarter valued at $5,379,000. Natixis Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Range Resources by 10.4% during the 4th quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC now owns 143,370 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock valued at $5,158,000 after acquiring an additional 13,491 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Shields Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of Range Resources by 1,492.7% during the 4th quarter. Wellington Shields Capital Management LLC now owns 335,914 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock valued at $12,086,000 after acquiring an additional 314,823 shares during the last quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC raised its position in shares of Range Resources by 2.8% during the 4th quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC now owns 14,120 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock valued at $508,000 after acquiring an additional 379 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Telemark Asset Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Range Resources during the 4th quarter valued at $14,392,000. Institutional investors own 98.93% of the company’s stock.

Range Resources Trading Up 1.5 %

Range Resources stock opened at $38.88 on Tuesday. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $38.35 and a 200-day moving average of $34.51. Range Resources Co. has a one year low of $27.29 and a one year high of $41.95. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.28, a current ratio of 0.54 and a quick ratio of 0.54. The company has a market cap of $9.38 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.63, a P/E/G ratio of 5.11 and a beta of 1.80.

Range Resources (NYSE:RRC) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 25th. The oil and gas exploration company reported $0.68 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.55 by $0.13. Range Resources had a net margin of 17.63% and a return on equity of 13.69%. The company had revenue of $626.42 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $676.53 million. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.63 EPS. On average, equities analysts expect that Range Resources Co. will post 2.02 earnings per share 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. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be paid a dividend of $0.09 per share. This represents a $0.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.93%. This is an increase from Range Resources’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.08. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 14th. Range Resources’s dividend payout ratio is currently 32.73%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

RRC has been the subject of several recent research reports. Stephens upped their target price on shares of Range Resources from $43.00 to $44.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 26th. StockNews.com cut shares of Range Resources from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Friday, March 7th. Barclays set a $43.00 price objective on shares of Range Resources and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 27th. Scotiabank cut shares of Range Resources from a “sector outperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating and set a $45.00 price objective for the company. in a research report on Friday, January 17th. Finally, Citigroup cut shares of Range Resources from a “neutral” rating to a “reduce” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 5th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have assigned a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Range Resources has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $39.95.

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.