Swiss National Bank Grows Stake in Range Resources Co. (NYSE:RRC)

Swiss National Bank increased its stake in Range Resources Co. (NYSE:RRC) by 0.5% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 476,200 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock after purchasing an additional 2,600 shares during the quarter. Swiss National Bank owned approximately 0.20% of Range Resources worth $17,134,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Brooklyn Investment Group bought a new position in Range Resources in the 3rd quarter worth $25,000. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC raised its holdings in Range Resources by 87.1% in the 4th quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 1,012 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock worth $37,000 after purchasing an additional 471 shares during the period. UMB Bank n.a. raised its holdings in Range Resources by 59.0% in the 4th quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 1,148 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock worth $41,000 after purchasing an additional 426 shares during the period. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. bought a new position in Range Resources in the 4th quarter worth $46,000. Finally, Versant Capital Management Inc raised its holdings in Range Resources by 42.8% in the 4th quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 1,544 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock worth $56,000 after purchasing an additional 463 shares during the period. 98.93% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts recently commented on RRC shares. Bank of America raised Range Resources from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their target price for the stock from $34.00 to $45.00 in a report on Monday, January 13th. Scotiabank cut Range Resources from a “sector outperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating and set a $45.00 price target on the stock. in a report on Friday, January 17th. Stephens raised their price target on Range Resources from $43.00 to $44.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 26th. StockNews.com cut Range Resources from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Friday, March 7th. Finally, Barclays set a $43.00 price target on Range Resources and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, February 27th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have assigned a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $39.95.

Range Resources Trading Up 1.7 %

RRC opened at $39.62 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $9.56 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.01, a P/E/G ratio of 5.11 and a beta of 1.80. Range Resources Co. has a 12 month low of $27.29 and a 12 month high of $41.95. The company has a current ratio of 0.54, a quick ratio of 0.54 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.28. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $38.41 and a 200 day moving average of $34.58.

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

Range Resources Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 28th. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th will be given a $0.09 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. This represents a $0.36 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.91%. This is a positive change from Range Resources’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.08. Range Resources’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 32.73%.

Range Resources 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.