Whiting Petroleum Corp. (NYSE: WLL) said Sept. 7 it plans to undertake a reverse stock split of its common stock, which may improve the Denver-based company's marketability and facilitate its trading.

The reverse stock split will range from a 1-for-2 to 1-for-6 ratio, as determined by Whiting’s board of directors. A special meeting for approval of the proposed financing will be held in fourth-quarter 2017, according to the company press release.

Whiting said it expects the move to reduce the number of the company's shares of common stock outstanding and increase the per share trading price of its stock. It will not change the proportionate equity interests or voting rights of holders of stock, subject to the treatment of fractional shares.

Tudor, Pickering, Holt & Co. analysts said Whiting's stock remains a Sell on the firm's high-leverage metrics relative to its peers and "limited remaining core Williston Basin inventory."

Whiting controls one of the largest acreage positions in the Bakken/Three Forks resource play in the Williston Basin with 449,857 net acres in the oil productive sweet spots of the basin, according to the company's website. It also holds 134,771 net acres in the Niobrara Shale in Colorado's Denver-Julesburg Basin.