State of Michigan Retirement System Reduces Stock Holdings in Range Resources Co. (NYSE:RRC)

State of Michigan Retirement System lowered its position in Range Resources Co. (NYSE:RRC) by 0.5% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 57,186 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock after selling 300 shares during the quarter. State of Michigan Retirement System’s holdings in Range Resources were worth $2,058,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its holdings in shares of 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. HITE Hedge Asset Management LLC purchased a new position in Range Resources during the third quarter worth about $11,508,000. Calamos Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Range Resources during the fourth quarter worth about $567,000. Radnor Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in Range Resources by 156.2% during the fourth quarter. Radnor Capital Management LLC now owns 42,993 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock worth $1,547,000 after buying an additional 26,213 shares during the period. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its stake in Range Resources by 4.8% during the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 2,017,704 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock worth $62,065,000 after buying an additional 92,217 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 98.93% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have weighed in on RRC. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed a “sector perform” rating and set a $40.00 target price on shares of Range Resources in a research note on Tuesday, January 14th. StockNews.com lowered shares of Range Resources from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Friday. Benchmark reaffirmed a “hold” rating on shares of Range Resources in a research note on Friday, January 17th. Wolfe Research raised shares of Range Resources from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $42.00 target price for the company in a research note on Friday, January 3rd. Finally, UBS Group increased their price target on shares of Range Resources from $39.00 to $41.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have given a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $39.06.

Range Resources Stock Down 0.3 %

Shares of NYSE:RRC opened at $35.27 on Friday. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $38.17 and its 200 day moving average price is $34.16. The stock has a market cap of $8.51 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.81, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.11 and a beta of 1.80. Range Resources Co. has a fifty-two week low of $27.29 and a fifty-two week high of $41.95. The company has a quick ratio of 0.54, a current ratio of 0.54 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.28.

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

Range Resources Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be paid a $0.09 dividend. This is a positive change from Range Resources’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.08. This represents a $0.36 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.02%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 14th. Range Resources’s dividend payout ratio is currently 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.