State Street Corp Decreases Stock Position in Range Resources Co. (NYSE:RRC)

State Street Corp decreased its position in shares of Range Resources Co. (NYSE:RRC) by 5.2% in the third quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 9,377,949 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock after selling 518,079 shares during the quarter. State Street Corp’s holdings in Range Resources were worth $288,466,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Quantinno Capital Management LP purchased a new position in Range Resources during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $234,000. Royal London Asset Management Ltd. grew its holdings in shares of Range Resources by 1.6% in the third quarter. Royal London Asset Management Ltd. now owns 671,954 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock valued at $20,669,000 after purchasing an additional 10,385 shares in the last quarter. HITE Hedge Asset Management LLC bought a new stake in Range Resources in the third quarter worth $11,508,000. HighTower Advisors LLC raised its stake in Range Resources by 59.9% during the third quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC now owns 131,571 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock valued at $4,045,000 after purchasing an additional 49,276 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Verition Fund Management LLC lifted its position in Range Resources by 379.3% during the third quarter. Verition Fund Management LLC now owns 409,427 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock valued at $12,594,000 after purchasing an additional 324,011 shares during the last quarter. 98.93% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Range Resources

In related news, VP Ashley Kavanaugh sold 12,700 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, September 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $31.45, for a total transaction of $399,415.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now owns 9,670 shares in the company, valued at $304,121.50. The trade was a 56.77 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, Director Charles G. Griffie bought 1,275 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, October 24th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $31.46 per share, with a total value of $40,111.50. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 5,921 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $186,274.66. The trade was a 27.44 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Corporate insiders own 2.50% of the company’s stock.

Range Resources Stock Performance

Shares of Range Resources stock opened at $33.99 on Wednesday. Range Resources Co. has a 12 month low of $27.29 and a 12 month high of $39.33. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $32.70 and its 200-day moving average price is $32.39. The firm has a market cap of $8.20 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.17 and a beta of 1.85. The company has a current ratio of 0.54, a quick ratio of 0.54 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.28.

Range Resources (NYSE:RRC) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 22nd. The oil and gas exploration company reported $0.48 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.32 by $0.16. Range Resources had a net margin of 17.63% and a return on equity of 13.69%. The business had revenue of $615.03 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $617.90 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.43 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up .9% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts expect that Range Resources Co. will post 1.9 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Range Resources Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 27th. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 13th will be issued a $0.08 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 13th. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.94%. Range Resources’s dividend payout ratio is presently 16.16%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

RRC has been the topic of a number of research reports. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Range Resources to a “sell” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 27th. Mizuho decreased their price objective on Range Resources from $45.00 to $40.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, October 9th. Barclays upgraded Range Resources from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and dropped their target price for the stock from $35.00 to $34.00 in a report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Susquehanna decreased their price target on Range Resources from $36.00 to $31.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, September 4th. Finally, Stephens raised their price target on Range Resources from $36.00 to $37.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have given a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $35.50.

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.