Morgan Stanley Upgrades Range Resources (NYSE:RRC) to “Equal Weight”

Morgan Stanley upgraded shares of Range Resources (NYSE:RRC) from an underweight rating to an equal weight rating in a report published on Wednesday, MarketBeat Ratings reports. The brokerage currently has $49.00 price target on the oil and gas exploration company’s stock, up from their previous price target of $40.00.

RRC has been the subject of a number of other research reports. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price objective on shares of Range Resources from $39.00 to $43.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 12th. Williams Trading set a $40.00 price target on Range Resources in a research report on Wednesday, March 5th. Mizuho boosted their price objective on Range Resources from $40.00 to $47.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, December 16th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised shares of Range Resources from an “underweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and lifted their price target for the company from $43.00 to $45.00 in a research note on Thursday, March 13th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on shares of Range Resources from $38.00 to $40.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 17th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have assigned a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $40.89.

Range Resources Trading Up 1.0 %

NYSE RRC opened at $39.19 on Wednesday. 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 has a 12 month low of $27.29 and a 12 month high of $41.95. The company has a market capitalization of $9.46 billion, a PE ratio of 19.79, a P/E/G ratio of 5.11 and a beta of 1.80. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $38.52 and a 200 day simple moving average of $35.12.

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

Range Resources Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th were given a dividend of $0.09 per share. This represents a $0.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.92%. This is a boost from Range Resources’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.08. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 14th. Range Resources’s payout ratio is 32.73%.

Institutional Trading of Range Resources

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of RRC. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its position in Range Resources by 61.9% during the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 1,579,579 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock worth $48,588,000 after acquiring an additional 604,199 shares during the last quarter. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. bought a new position in shares of Range Resources during the fourth quarter worth approximately $380,000. HITE Hedge Asset Management LLC acquired a new stake in Range Resources during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $11,508,000. Calamos Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Range Resources in the 4th quarter valued at $567,000. Finally, Radnor Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in Range Resources by 156.2% in the 4th quarter. Radnor Capital Management LLC now owns 42,993 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock valued at $1,547,000 after buying an additional 26,213 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 98.93% of the company’s stock.

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.