California Resources (NYSE:CRC) Hits New 12-Month High – Should You Buy?

California Resources Corporation (NYSE:CRC) shares hit a new 52-week high during mid-day trading on Tuesday . The company traded as high as $66.39 and last traded at $66.2470, with a volume of 229009 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at $63.85.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms recently issued reports on CRC. Barclays lifted their price target on shares of California Resources from $67.00 to $72.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, March 16th. Pickering Energy Partners lowered shares of California Resources from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, January 9th. Mizuho lifted their price objective on shares of California Resources from $71.00 to $72.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, December 12th. UBS Group boosted their target price on shares of California Resources from $63.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 5th. Finally, TD Cowen upgraded shares of California Resources to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, February 9th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have given a Buy rating and four have given a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $69.80.

California Resources Stock Up 3.8%

The company has a current ratio of 0.89, a quick ratio of 0.79 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.35. The stock has a market capitalization of $6.02 billion, a PE ratio of 16.63 and a beta of 1.12. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $57.35 and its 200-day simple moving average is $51.62.

California Resources (NYSE:CRC) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, March 2nd. The oil and gas producer reported $0.47 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.49 by ($0.02). California Resources had a net margin of 9.89% and a return on equity of 10.23%. The firm had revenue of $924.00 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $789.67 million. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.91 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.4% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that California Resources Corporation will post 3.85 EPS for the current fiscal year.

California Resources Dividend Announcement

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director Mark Allen Mcfarland sold 16,372 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $64.83, for a total transaction of $1,061,396.76. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 76,265 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,944,259.95. This trade represents a 17.67% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, EVP Christopher D. Gould sold 24,347 shares of California Resources stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $62.21, for a total value of $1,514,626.87. Following the sale, the executive vice president owned 131,537 shares in the company, valued at $8,182,916.77. This trade represents a 15.62% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold 72,283 shares of company stock worth $4,636,646 over the last 90 days. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of CRC. Victory Capital Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of California Resources by 200.7% during the 4th quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 2,344,493 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $104,822,000 after purchasing an additional 1,564,866 shares during the period. Channing Capital Management LLC grew its position in California Resources by 1,263.4% during the fourth quarter. Channing Capital Management LLC now owns 1,590,707 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $71,121,000 after buying an additional 1,474,037 shares during the period. Sourcerock Group LLC grew its position in California Resources by 63.8% during the second quarter. Sourcerock Group LLC now owns 2,000,649 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $91,370,000 after buying an additional 779,280 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. increased its holdings in California Resources by 155.8% during the second quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 1,062,553 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $48,527,000 after buying an additional 647,190 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its holdings in California Resources by 17.8% during the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 4,181,806 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $186,968,000 after buying an additional 632,170 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 97.79% of the company’s stock.

About California Resources

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.