Meiji Yasuda Asset Management Co Ltd. Purchases New Position in Range Resources Co. (NYSE:RRC)

Meiji Yasuda Asset Management Co Ltd. purchased a new position in Range Resources Co. (NYSE:RRC) in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund purchased 5,889 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock, valued at approximately $212,000.

Other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. M&T Bank Corp raised its stake in shares of Range Resources by 3.1% during the 3rd quarter. M&T Bank Corp now owns 10,790 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock worth $332,000 after buying an additional 327 shares during the period. CIBC Asset Management Inc raised its position in Range Resources by 5.4% during the fourth quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc now owns 7,435 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock worth $268,000 after acquiring an additional 378 shares during the period. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC lifted its holdings in Range Resources by 2.8% during the fourth quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC now owns 14,120 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock valued at $508,000 after purchasing an additional 379 shares in the last quarter. King Luther Capital Management Corp grew its position in shares of Range Resources by 1.3% in the fourth quarter. King Luther Capital Management Corp now owns 31,410 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock valued at $1,130,000 after purchasing an additional 390 shares during the period. Finally, Arizona State Retirement System increased its stake in shares of Range Resources by 0.6% during the fourth quarter. Arizona State Retirement System now owns 70,258 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock worth $2,528,000 after purchasing an additional 395 shares in the last quarter. 98.93% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Range Resources Stock Up 1.0 %

RRC stock opened at $39.19 on Friday. Range Resources Co. has a 52 week low of $27.29 and a 52 week high of $41.95. The company has a market cap of $9.46 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.79, a P/E/G ratio of 5.11 and a beta of 1.80. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $38.52 and its 200 day moving average price is $35.12. 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 released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 25th. The oil and gas exploration company reported $0.68 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.55 by $0.13. Range Resources had a return on equity of 13.69% and a net margin of 17.63%. The company had revenue of $626.42 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $676.53 million. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.63 earnings per share. On average, research analysts expect that Range Resources Co. will post 2.02 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Range Resources Increases Dividend

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on RRC. Citigroup lowered shares of Range Resources from a “neutral” rating to a “reduce” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 5th. Wolfe Research upgraded Range Resources from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $42.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Friday, January 3rd. Bank of America upgraded Range Resources from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $34.00 to $45.00 in a research report on Monday, January 13th. Mizuho raised their price objective on Range Resources from $40.00 to $47.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, December 16th. Finally, UBS Group upped their target price on shares of Range Resources from $39.00 to $41.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, February 13th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have issued a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $40.89.

Range Resources Company 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.