Range Resources Corporation $RRC Stock Position Lifted by Ceredex Value Advisors LLC

Key Points

• Ceredex Value Advisors LLC raised its stake in Range Resources by 22.2% in the 3rd quarter to 478,550 shares, worth about $18.0 million.
• Large institutions also moved significantly: Invesco boosted holdings 230.1% to 4,785,940 shares (~$194.6M) and Vanguard owns 24,851,886 shares (~$935.4M), leaving institutional investors with roughly 98.93% of the stock.
• Operational update: Range Resources beat quarterly estimates with EPS of $0.82 vs. $0.69 and revenue of $786.9M (up 30.9% YoY), and raised its quarterly dividend to $0.10 (annual $0.40, ~1.0% yield).

Ceredex Value Advisors LLC raised its stake in Range Resources Corporation (NYSE:RRC - Free Report) by 22.2% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 478,550 shares of the oil and gas exploration company's stock after buying an additional 87,050 shares during the quarter. Ceredex Value Advisors LLC owned 0.20% of Range Resources worth $18,013,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Invesco Ltd. grew its holdings in shares of Range Resources by 230.1% during the 2nd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 4,785,940 shares of the oil and gas exploration company's stock valued at $194,644,000 after acquiring an additional 3,336,299 shares in the last quarter. Encompass Capital Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Range Resources in the second quarter valued at about $36,590,000. Peconic Partners LLC purchased a new position in Range Resources in the second quarter valued at about $32,536,000. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in Range Resources by 3.3% in the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 24,851,886 shares of the oil and gas exploration company's stock worth $935,425,000 after purchasing an additional 799,574 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Qube Research & Technologies Ltd raised its stake in shares of Range Resources by 30.5% during the 2nd quarter. Qube Research & Technologies Ltd now owns 2,951,806 shares of the oil and gas exploration company's stock worth $120,050,000 after purchasing an additional 689,212 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 98.93% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

RRC has been the topic of a number of research reports. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on Range Resources from $43.00 to $46.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a report on Thursday, February 26th. Citigroup lifted their target price on shares of Range Resources from $36.00 to $43.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Thursday, March 5th. Bank of America reissued a "neutral" rating and issued a $38.00 target price (down from $44.00) on shares of Range Resources in a research report on Friday, January 16th. Royal Bank Of Canada dropped their price target on shares of Range Resources from $46.00 to $44.00 and set a "sector perform" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, January 14th. Finally, Zacks Research downgraded shares of Range Resources from a "hold" rating to a "strong sell" rating in a report on Wednesday, January 21st. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have given a Buy rating, twelve have given a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $42.06.

Range Resources Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE RRC opened at $41.63 on Tuesday. The business's 50-day simple moving average is $36.89 and its 200-day simple moving average is $36.72. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.28, a quick ratio of 0.67 and a current ratio of 0.67. Range Resources Corporation has a 52 week low of $30.32 and a 52 week high of $43.50. The firm has a market cap of $9.80 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.19, a P/E/G ratio of 0.38 and a beta of 0.57.

Range Resources (NYSE:RRC - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, February 24th. The oil and gas exploration company reported $0.82 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.69 by $0.13. Range Resources had a return on equity of 16.31% and a net margin of 21.12%.The firm had revenue of $786.89 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $770.92 million. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.68 EPS. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 30.9% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Range Resources Corporation will post 2.02 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Range Resources Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 27th. Investors of record on Friday, March 13th will be paid a $0.10 dividend. This represents a $0.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.0%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 13th. This is a boost from Range Resources's previous quarterly dividend of $0.09. Range Resources's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 13.14%.

Range Resources Company Profile

Range Resources Corporation, headquartered in Fort Worth, Texas, is an independent energy company engaged in the exploration, development and production of natural gas, oil and natural gas liquids. The company focuses its core operations on the Appalachian Basin, with a significant presence in Pennsylvania's Marcellus Shale. Through its drilling and completion activities, Range Resources seeks to optimize production efficiency while maintaining a disciplined approach to capital allocation and cost management.

The company's technical expertise centers on advanced horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing techniques, which it applies to unlock unconventional resources.

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