Short Interest in RPC, Inc. (NYSE:RES) Drops By 18.1%

RPC, Inc. (NYSE:RES - Get Free Report) was the recipient of a large decrease in short interest in March. As of March 31st, there was short interest totalling 15,440,000 shares, a decrease of 18.1% from the March 15th total of 18,860,000 shares. Approximately 16.1% of the company's shares are short sold. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 1,710,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 9.0 days.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have recently commented on RES. Susquehanna lowered their target price on RPC from $6.00 to $5.50 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research note on Monday, April 14th. Citigroup upgraded RPC from a "sell" rating to a "neutral" rating and lowered their price objective for the stock from $5.50 to $4.75 in a research report on Tuesday, April 8th.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Barclays PLC increased its stake in RPC by 230.1% in the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 182,943 shares of the oil and gas company's stock valued at $1,163,000 after purchasing an additional 127,525 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its position in shares of RPC by 17.0% in the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 489,401 shares of the oil and gas company's stock valued at $3,113,000 after buying an additional 71,064 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp raised its stake in RPC by 6.2% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 4,202,844 shares of the oil and gas company's stock worth $26,730,000 after buying an additional 245,372 shares during the period. HB Wealth Management LLC lifted its holdings in RPC by 12.9% during the fourth quarter. HB Wealth Management LLC now owns 32,280 shares of the oil and gas company's stock worth $192,000 after acquiring an additional 3,697 shares in the last quarter. Finally, HighTower Advisors LLC grew its stake in RPC by 6.1% in the third quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC now owns 40,082 shares of the oil and gas company's stock valued at $252,000 after acquiring an additional 2,288 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 41.06% of the company's stock.

RPC Stock Up 1.6 %

RES stock traded up $0.08 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $5.05. The company's stock had a trading volume of 1,371,077 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,732,280. The business's 50-day simple moving average is $5.27 and its 200-day simple moving average is $5.89. RPC has a 52 week low of $4.10 and a 52 week high of $7.54. The stock has a market cap of $1.09 billion, a PE ratio of 11.74 and a beta of 1.27.

RPC (NYSE:RES - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 24th. The oil and gas company reported $0.06 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.07 by ($0.01). RPC had a return on equity of 8.62% and a net margin of 6.46%. The company had revenue of $332.88 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $326.72 million. As a group, equities analysts forecast that RPC will post 0.31 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

RPC Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, June 10th. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 9th will be paid a $0.04 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 9th. This represents a $0.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.17%. RPC's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 37.21%.

About RPC

RPC, Inc, through its subsidiaries, engages provision of a range of oilfield services and equipment for the oil and gas companies involved in the exploration, production, and development of oil and gas properties. The company operates through Technical Services and Support Services segments. The Technical Services segment offers pressure pumping, fracturing, acidizing, cementing, downhole tools, coiled tubing, snubbing, nitrogen, well control, wireline, pump down, and fishing services that are used in the completion, production, and maintenance of oil and gas wells.