Morgan Stanley Upgrades Range Resources (NYSE:RRC) to “Equal Weight”

Range Resources (NYSE:RRC) was upgraded by research analysts at Morgan Stanley from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating in a report issued on Wednesday,Finviz reports. The brokerage presently has a $49.00 target price on the oil and gas exploration company’s stock, up from their previous target price of $40.00. Morgan Stanley’s price objective points to a potential upside of 21.83% from the stock’s previous close.

Several other equities analysts have also recently commented on RRC. Benchmark reiterated a “hold” rating on shares of Range Resources in a research note on Friday, January 17th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised shares of Range Resources from an “underweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and upped their price objective for the company from $43.00 to $45.00 in a research report on Thursday, March 13th. Scotiabank cut shares of Range Resources from a “sector outperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating and set a $45.00 target price for the company. in a research note on Friday, January 17th. Barclays set a $43.00 price target on Range Resources and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 27th. Finally, Wolfe Research raised Range Resources from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $42.00 price target for the company in a report on Friday, January 3rd. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have issued a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $40.89.

Range Resources Stock Down 1.1 %

RRC stock opened at $40.22 on Wednesday. The company has a 50 day moving average of $38.61 and a two-hundred day moving average of $34.99. The company has a quick ratio of 0.54, a current ratio of 0.54 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.28. Range Resources has a 12-month low of $27.29 and a 12-month high of $41.95. The company has a market cap of $9.71 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.31, a PEG ratio of 5.11 and a beta of 1.80.

Range Resources (NYSE:RRC) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 25th. The oil and gas exploration company reported $0.68 earnings per share (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 company had revenue of $626.42 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $676.53 million. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.63 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Range Resources will post 2.02 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Range Resources

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in RRC. Brooklyn Investment Group bought a new stake in Range Resources during the 3rd quarter worth about $25,000. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Range Resources by 87.1% during the 4th quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 1,012 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock valued at $37,000 after purchasing an additional 471 shares in the last quarter. UMB Bank n.a. grew its position in shares of Range Resources by 59.0% in the 4th quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 1,148 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock valued at $41,000 after purchasing an additional 426 shares during the period. Headlands Technologies LLC bought a new stake in Range Resources during the 4th quarter worth approximately $42,000. Finally, Geneos Wealth Management Inc. bought a new stake in Range Resources during the 4th quarter worth approximately $46,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 98.93% of the company’s stock.

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.