Short Interest in RPC, Inc. (NYSE:RES) Grows By 25.4%

RPC, Inc. (NYSE:RES) was the target of a large growth in short interest during the month of July. As of July 31st, there was short interest totalling 18,240,000 shares, a growth of 25.4% from the July 15th total of 14,550,000 shares. Currently, 19.2% of the shares of the company are sold short. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 1,820,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 10.0 days.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Signaturefd LLC boosted its holdings in shares of RPC by 67.3% during the 4th quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 4,580 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $33,000 after purchasing an additional 1,843 shares during the last quarter. Bridge City Capital LLC boosted its holdings in shares of RPC by 0.8% during the 1st quarter. Bridge City Capital LLC now owns 240,187 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $1,859,000 after purchasing an additional 1,851 shares during the last quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company raised its position in shares of RPC by 3.7% during the 2nd quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 51,819 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $324,000 after buying an additional 1,869 shares during the period. Arizona State Retirement System raised its position in shares of RPC by 10.5% during the 4th quarter. Arizona State Retirement System now owns 27,224 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $198,000 after buying an additional 2,581 shares during the period. Finally, Swiss National Bank raised its position in shares of RPC by 1.4% during the 1st quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 192,000 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $1,486,000 after buying an additional 2,600 shares during the period. 41.06% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

RPC Price Performance

RES stock traded up $0.03 during trading on Friday, hitting $6.31. The stock had a trading volume of 942,513 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,707,013. RPC has a twelve month low of $5.66 and a twelve month high of $9.41. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.35 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.01 and a beta of 1.59. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $6.32 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $6.94.

RPC (NYSE:RES) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 25th. The oil and gas company reported $0.15 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.13 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $364.20 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $381.18 million. RPC had a return on equity of 11.52% and a net margin of 8.08%. RPC’s revenue was down 12.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.30 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that RPC will post 0.56 EPS for the current fiscal year.

RPC Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 10th. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 9th will be issued a dividend of $0.04 per share. This represents a $0.16 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.54%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, August 9th. RPC’s dividend payout ratio is currently 22.86%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

RES has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Citigroup dropped their target price on RPC from $6.75 to $5.25 and set a “sell” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, July 10th. Stifel Nicolaus dropped their target price on RPC from $8.00 to $7.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, July 16th. Finally, Susquehanna dropped their target price on RPC from $7.00 to $6.50 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, July 11th.

RPC Company Profile

RPC, Inc, through its subsidiaries, engages provision of a range of oilfield services and equipment for the oil and gas companies involved in the exploration, production, and development of oil and gas properties. The company operates through Technical Services and Support Services segments. The Technical Services segment offers pressure pumping, fracturing, acidizing, cementing, downhole tools, coiled tubing, snubbing, nitrogen, well control, wireline, pump down, and fishing services that are used in the completion, production, and maintenance of oil and gas wells.