49,900 Shares in Range Resources Co. (NYSE:RRC) Bought by KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS

KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS purchased a new stake in shares of Range Resources Co. (NYSE:RRC) during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm purchased 49,900 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,795,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Amundi grew its position in shares of Range Resources by 233.2% during the 4th quarter. Amundi now owns 1,180,913 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock valued at $44,308,000 after acquiring an additional 826,530 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its holdings in Range Resources by 61.9% in the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 1,579,579 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock valued at $48,588,000 after purchasing an additional 604,199 shares during the period. Telemark Asset Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Range Resources in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $14,392,000. HITE Hedge Asset Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Range Resources during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $11,508,000. Finally, Boston Partners lifted its position in shares of Range Resources by 4.9% during the 4th quarter. Boston Partners now owns 7,976,052 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock valued at $287,078,000 after buying an additional 371,777 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 98.93% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts recently commented on RRC shares. StockNews.com raised shares of Range Resources from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday. Morgan Stanley raised shares of Range Resources from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $40.00 to $49.00 in a research note on Wednesday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded shares of Range Resources from an “underweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and upped their price target for the stock from $43.00 to $45.00 in a research report on Thursday, March 13th. Barclays set a $43.00 price objective on Range Resources and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, February 27th. Finally, UBS Group increased their target price on Range Resources from $39.00 to $41.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, February 13th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have assigned a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Range Resources presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $40.89.

Range Resources Stock Performance

Range Resources stock opened at $38.86 on Friday. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $38.56 and a 200-day simple moving average of $35.05. The stock has a market cap of $9.38 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.63, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.11 and a beta of 1.80. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.28, a current ratio of 0.54 and a quick ratio of 0.54. Range Resources Co. has a 1-year low of $27.29 and a 1-year high of $41.95.

Range Resources (NYSE:RRC) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, February 25th. The oil and gas exploration company reported $0.68 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.55 by $0.13. Range Resources had a return on equity of 13.69% and a net margin of 17.63%. The company had revenue of $626.42 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $676.53 million. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.63 earnings per share. On average, analysts expect that Range Resources Co. will post 2.02 EPS for the current year.

Range Resources Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be paid a dividend of $0.09 per share. This represents a $0.36 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.93%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. This is a positive change from Range Resources’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.08. Range Resources’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 32.73%.

About Range Resources

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.