California Resources Corporation (NYSE:CRC) Given Average Recommendation of "Buy" by Analysts

Key Points

• Buy consensus from 15 analysts (3 hold, 9 buy, 3 strong buy) with an average 12‑month price target of $71.20.
• Latest quarter: EPS of $0.47 missed estimates ($0.49) but revenue of $924M beat estimates ($789.7M) and rose 5.4% year‑over‑year; sell‑side expects about 5.03 EPS for the year.
• The company pays a quarterly dividend of $0.405 (annualized $1.62, yield ~2.4%), while insiders sold roughly 72,283 shares (~$4.64M) last quarter and institutional investors own about 97.8% of the stock.

California Resources Corporation (NYSE:CRC - Get Free Report) has been assigned a consensus rating of "Buy" from the fifteen research firms that are currently covering the firm, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have assigned a buy rating and three have issued a strong buy rating on the company. The average twelve-month price objective among analysts that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $71.20.

Several research firms recently commented on CRC. Pickering Energy Partners downgraded shares of California Resources from an "outperform" rating to a "neutral" rating in a report on Friday, January 9th. Wall Street Zen raised shares of California Resources from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Monday, April 6th. Citigroup raised their price target on shares of California Resources from $67.00 to $74.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Monday, March 30th. Weiss Ratings reissued a "hold (c)" rating on shares of California Resources in a report on Wednesday, January 21st. Finally, TD Cowen raised shares of California Resources to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Monday, February 9th.

California Resources Stock Up 0.2%

CRC opened at $68.37 on Friday. The company has a 50 day moving average of $64.26 and a 200 day moving average of $53.93. The company has a market cap of $6.07 billion, a PE ratio of 16.76 and a beta of 0.96. California Resources has a 12 month low of $34.87 and a 12 month high of $71.98. The company has a current ratio of 0.89, a quick ratio of 0.79 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.35.

California Resources (NYSE:CRC - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Monday, March 2nd. The oil and gas producer reported $0.47 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.49 by ($0.02). The business had revenue of $924.00 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $789.67 million. California Resources had a return on equity of 10.23% and a net margin of 9.89%.The firm's quarterly revenue was up 5.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.91 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts expect that California Resources will post 5.03 EPS for the current year.

California Resources Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 20th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 13th were issued a $0.405 dividend. This represents a $1.62 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 13th. California Resources's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 39.71%.

Insider Activity

In other California Resources news, Director Mark Allen Mcfarland sold 16,372 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Friday, March 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $64.83, for a total value of $1,061,396.76. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 76,265 shares of the company's stock, valued at $4,944,259.95. This trade represents a 17.67% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, COO Omar Hayat sold 23,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Monday, March 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $65.87, for a total transaction of $1,515,010.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer directly owned 82,236 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $5,416,885.32. The trade was a 21.86% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold 72,283 shares of company stock valued at $4,636,646 in the last quarter. 0.53% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of California Resources

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in CRC. Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. raised its position in shares of California Resources by 363.6% during the 4th quarter. Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. now owns 561 shares of the oil and gas producer's stock valued at $25,000 after buying an additional 440 shares in the last quarter. Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC purchased a new stake in shares of California Resources during the 4th quarter valued at $26,000. Clearstead Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of California Resources by 82.5% during the 3rd quarter. Clearstead Advisors LLC now owns 500 shares of the oil and gas producer's stock valued at $27,000 after buying an additional 226 shares in the last quarter. Pinnacle Holdings LLC purchased a new stake in shares of California Resources during the 4th quarter valued at $27,000. Finally, Salomon & Ludwin LLC purchased a new stake in shares of California Resources during the 3rd quarter valued at $29,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 97.79% of the company's stock.

California Resources Company Profile

California Resources Corporation NYSE: CRC is an independent exploration and production company focused exclusively on developing oil and natural gas assets in California. Headquartered in Newport Beach, the company engages in hydraulic fracturing, well completions, reservoir management and enhanced recovery operations to produce crude oil, natural gas and natural gas liquids.

CRC's operations are concentrated in three core regions: the Los Angeles Basin, the Ventura Basin and the San Joaquin Basin.

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