California Resources (NYSE:CRC) Shares Gap Down – Time to Sell?

California Resources Co. (NYSE:CRC)’s stock price gapped down before the market opened on Thursday . The stock had previously closed at $54.10, but opened at $52.56. California Resources shares last traded at $53.97, with a volume of 5,792 shares traded.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Stephens started coverage on shares of California Resources in a research note on Tuesday, October 22nd. They set an “overweight” rating and a $73.00 price target for the company. Capital One Financial upgraded shares of California Resources to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, December 9th. UBS Group assumed coverage on California Resources in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th. They set a “buy” rating and a $68.00 price objective for the company. Truist Financial assumed coverage on California Resources in a research note on Monday, January 13th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $75.00 target price on the stock. Finally, Barclays boosted their target price on California Resources from $55.00 to $57.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 3rd. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $67.25.

California Resources Price Performance

The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $54.75 and a 200-day simple moving average of $52.52. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.90 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.45, a PEG ratio of 1.21 and a beta of 1.05. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a quick ratio of 0.89 and a current ratio of 0.97.

California Resources (NYSE:CRC) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, November 5th. The oil and gas producer reported $1.50 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.88 by $0.62. The firm had revenue of $1.35 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $973.13 million. California Resources had a return on equity of 12.16% and a net margin of 17.43%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 194.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.02 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts expect that California Resources Co. will post 3.66 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

California Resources Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 16th. Investors of record on Monday, December 2nd were issued a dividend of $0.3875 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 2nd. This represents a $1.55 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.89%. California Resources’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 24.41%.

Insider Transactions at California Resources

In other news, VP Noelle M. Repetti sold 8,770 shares of California Resources stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $55.75, for a total value of $488,927.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 8,531 shares in the company, valued at approximately $475,603.25. The trade was a 50.69 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, EVP Omar Hayat sold 16,016 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, December 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $55.18, for a total value of $883,762.88. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 30,940 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,707,269.20. This represents a 34.11 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.63% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of CRC. GSA Capital Partners LLP bought a new position in shares of California Resources in the third quarter worth approximately $682,000. Swiss National Bank grew its holdings in California Resources by 12.7% in the 3rd quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 121,900 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $6,396,000 after acquiring an additional 13,700 shares during the last quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of California Resources in the third quarter valued at about $579,000. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of California Resources by 3.6% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,592,663 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $83,583,000 after acquiring an additional 55,815 shares during the last quarter. Finally, State Street Corp boosted its holdings in shares of California Resources by 5.1% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 3,449,988 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $181,021,000 after purchasing an additional 168,278 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 97.79% of the company’s stock.

California Resources Company Profile

California Resources Corporation operates as an independent oil and natural gas exploration and production, and carbon management company in the United States. The company explores, produces, and markets crude oil, natural gas, and natural gas liquids for marketers, California refineries, and other purchasers that have access to transportation and storage facilities.