Wall Street Zen Downgrades California Resources (NYSE:CRC) to Sell

California Resources (NYSE:CRC) was downgraded by stock analysts at Wall Street Zen from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note issued to investors on Sunday.

Other analysts also recently issued reports about the company. TD Cowen upgraded California Resources to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, February 9th. Citigroup boosted their price target on California Resources from $51.00 to $67.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 18th. Pickering Energy Partners lowered California Resources from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, January 9th. UBS Group raised their price objective on California Resources from $63.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, March 5th. Finally, Zacks Research raised California Resources from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 19th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have given a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $70.50.

California Resources Price Performance

California Resources stock opened at $68.86 on Friday. California Resources has a 1 year low of $30.97 and a 1 year high of $69.93. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $58.61 and a 200 day moving average price of $51.99. The company has a market cap of $6.11 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.88 and a beta of 1.11. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.35, a quick ratio of 0.79 and a current ratio of 0.89.

California Resources (NYSE:CRC) last posted 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). The company had revenue of $924.00 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $789.67 million. California Resources had a return on equity of 10.23% and a net margin of 9.89%.The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.91 EPS. Sell-side analysts predict that California Resources will post 3.85 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, EVP Christopher D. Gould sold 24,347 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $62.21, for a total transaction of $1,514,626.87. Following the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 131,537 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,182,916.77. The trade was a 15.62% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, COO Omar Hayat sold 23,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $65.87, for a total value of $1,515,010.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer owned 82,236 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,416,885.32. This represents a 21.86% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders have sold a total of 72,283 shares of company stock worth $4,636,646 in the last ninety days. 0.53% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. AQR Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of California Resources by 89.1% in the first quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 46,532 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $2,046,000 after purchasing an additional 21,923 shares during the period. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. grew its stake in shares of California Resources by 6.1% during the first quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 41,663 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $1,832,000 after acquiring an additional 2,394 shares in the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of California Resources by 38.2% in the first quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 657,628 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $28,916,000 after acquiring an additional 181,833 shares in the last quarter. Empowered Funds LLC grew its stake in California Resources by 3.8% during the 1st quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 50,786 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $2,233,000 after purchasing an additional 1,857 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Intech Investment Management LLC grew its stake in California Resources by 17.7% during the 1st quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC now owns 31,870 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $1,401,000 after purchasing an additional 4,783 shares in the last quarter. 97.79% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

California Resources Company Profile

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.