Short Interest in California Resources Corporation (NYSE:CRC) Grows By 25.5%

California Resources Corporation (NYSE:CRC) was the target of a large increase in short interest during the month of January. As of January 15th, there was short interest totaling 4,341,581 shares, an increase of 25.5% from the December 31st total of 3,460,591 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 872,921 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 5.0 days. Currently, 5.2% of the company’s shares are short sold. Currently, 5.2% of the company’s shares are short sold. Based on an average daily volume of 872,921 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 5.0 days.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in California Resources by 6.4% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 8,775,097 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $392,335,000 after acquiring an additional 529,814 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its holdings in shares of California Resources by 15.4% in the 3rd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 3,549,636 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $188,776,000 after purchasing an additional 474,521 shares during the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. boosted its position in shares of California Resources by 5.6% in the 3rd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 3,006,430 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $159,882,000 after purchasing an additional 159,708 shares during the period. Sourcerock Group LLC grew its stake in California Resources by 63.8% during the 2nd quarter. Sourcerock Group LLC now owns 2,000,649 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $91,370,000 after buying an additional 779,280 shares during the last quarter. Finally, UBS Group AG increased its position in California Resources by 51.5% during the fourth quarter. UBS Group AG now owns 1,471,090 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $65,772,000 after buying an additional 499,845 shares during the period. 97.79% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of California Resources in a report on Wednesday, January 21st. Royal Bank Of Canada set a $70.00 price objective on shares of California Resources in a research report on Monday, January 5th. Barclays set a $65.00 target price on California Resources and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 21st. Pickering Energy Partners lowered California Resources from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, January 9th. Finally, Zacks Research cut California Resources from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 1st. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have assigned a Buy rating, three have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $63.90.

California Resources Stock Up 1.6%

Shares of CRC traded up $0.88 during midday trading on Wednesday, hitting $55.12. The company had a trading volume of 513,779 shares, compared to its average volume of 923,832. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26, a quick ratio of 0.78 and a current ratio of 0.89. California Resources has a 1 year low of $30.97 and a 1 year high of $58.41. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.61 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.81 and a beta of 1.15. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $47.15 and its 200-day simple moving average is $48.79.

California Resources (NYSE:CRC) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, November 4th. The oil and gas producer reported $1.46 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.31 by $0.15. The firm had revenue of $855.00 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $888.58 million. California Resources had a net margin of 10.60% and a return on equity of 11.59%. The company’s revenue was down 36.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.50 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that California Resources will post 3.85 EPS for the current year.

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.