Avantax Advisory Services Inc. Cuts Stock Position in Range Resources Co. (NYSE:RRC)

Avantax Advisory Services Inc. decreased its stake in shares of Range Resources Co. (NYSE:RRC) by 14.6% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 14,067 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock after selling 2,409 shares during the quarter. Avantax Advisory Services Inc.’s holdings in Range Resources were worth $506,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of RRC. Brooklyn Investment Group purchased a new position in shares of Range Resources in the third quarter worth $25,000. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Range Resources by 87.1% in the 4th quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 1,012 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock worth $37,000 after buying an additional 471 shares during the last quarter. UMB Bank n.a. grew its holdings in shares of Range Resources by 59.0% in the fourth quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 1,148 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock worth $41,000 after acquiring an additional 426 shares during the period. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. purchased a new stake in Range Resources during the fourth quarter valued at $46,000. Finally, Versant Capital Management Inc lifted its holdings in Range Resources by 42.8% in the fourth quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 1,544 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock valued at $56,000 after acquiring an additional 463 shares during the period. 98.93% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Range Resources Price Performance

Shares of RRC stock opened at $39.84 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.28, a current ratio of 0.54 and a quick ratio of 0.54. The company has a market capitalization of $9.61 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.12, a P/E/G ratio of 5.11 and a beta of 1.80. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $38.56 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $34.77. Range Resources Co. has a one year low of $27.29 and a one year high of $41.95.

Range Resources (NYSE:RRC) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 25th. The oil and gas exploration company reported $0.68 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.55 by $0.13. Range Resources had a return on equity of 13.69% and a net margin of 17.63%. The firm 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 posted $0.63 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Range Resources Co. will post 2.02 EPS for the current year.

Range Resources Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be issued a $0.09 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. This is an increase from Range Resources’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.08. This represents a $0.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.90%. Range Resources’s payout ratio is currently 32.73%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have weighed in on RRC shares. Bank of America upgraded shares of Range Resources from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price target for the stock from $34.00 to $45.00 in a research report on Monday, January 13th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Range Resources from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Wednesday. Truist Financial upped their price objective on Range Resources from $35.00 to $37.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, March 17th. Benchmark restated a “hold” rating on shares of Range Resources in a research report on Friday, January 17th. Finally, Scotiabank lowered Range Resources from a “sector outperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating and set a $45.00 price objective for the company. in a research note on Friday, January 17th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have issued a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $39.95.

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.