Patterson-UTI Energy (NASDAQ:PTEN) Lifted to “Buy” at StockNews.com

StockNews.com upgraded shares of Patterson-UTI Energy (NASDAQ:PTEN) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a report published on Saturday.

PTEN has been the topic of several other reports. Capital One Financial began coverage on shares of Patterson-UTI Energy in a research note on Wednesday, June 28th. They issued an equal weight rating and a $14.00 price target on the stock. Barclays cut their price objective on shares of Patterson-UTI Energy from $19.00 to $16.00 in a research report on Thursday, June 8th. Benchmark raised shares of Patterson-UTI Energy from a hold rating to a buy rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 19th. Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an overweight rating and set a $20.00 price objective on shares of Patterson-UTI Energy in a research report on Monday, July 31st. Finally, Susquehanna cut their price objective on shares of Patterson-UTI Energy from $15.00 to $13.00 in a research report on Friday, June 2nd. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of Moderate Buy and an average target price of $16.57.

Patterson-UTI Energy Trading Up 5.4 %

PTEN stock opened at $14.91 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.48, a quick ratio of 1.61 and a current ratio of 1.76. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $14.19 and its 200 day simple moving average is $12.66. Patterson-UTI Energy has a 52 week low of $9.70 and a 52 week high of $19.81. The company has a market capitalization of $3.10 billion, a PE ratio of 9.32, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.27 and a beta of 2.38.

Patterson-UTI Energy (NASDAQ:PTEN) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 26th. The oil and gas company reported $0.40 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.44 by ($0.04). Patterson-UTI Energy had a net margin of 11.28% and a return on equity of 21.22%. The business had revenue of $758.89 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $781.73 million. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.05 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 22.0% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Patterson-UTI Energy will post 1.49 earnings per share for the current year.

Patterson-UTI Energy Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 21st. Investors of record on Thursday, September 7th will be issued a $0.08 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, September 6th. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.15%. Patterson-UTI Energy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 20.00%.

Insider Activity at Patterson-UTI Energy

In related news, CEO William Andrew Hendricks, Jr. sold 100,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, July 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $14.06, for a total value of $1,406,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 2,086,874 shares in the company, valued at approximately $29,341,448.44. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. In related news, CEO William Andrew Hendricks, Jr. sold 100,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, July 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $14.06, for a total value of $1,406,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 2,086,874 shares in the company, valued at approximately $29,341,448.44. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, COO James Michael Holcomb sold 8,802 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $15.47, for a total transaction of $136,166.94. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 387,925 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,001,199.75. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 319,564 shares of company stock worth $4,665,785 in the last quarter. 2.40% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Patterson-UTI Energy

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. BlackRock Inc. increased its position in Patterson-UTI Energy by 1.4% during the 1st quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 35,469,236 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $549,064,000 after purchasing an additional 476,464 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Patterson-UTI Energy by 1.5% during the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 25,644,174 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $299,525,000 after buying an additional 369,428 shares during the period. Macquarie Group Ltd. grew its position in shares of Patterson-UTI Energy by 3.9% during the 4th quarter. Macquarie Group Ltd. now owns 14,439,073 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $243,154,000 after buying an additional 545,790 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its position in shares of Patterson-UTI Energy by 2.2% during the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 10,529,734 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $126,042,000 after buying an additional 221,938 shares during the period. Finally, State Street Corp grew its position in shares of Patterson-UTI Energy by 11.3% during the 1st quarter. State Street Corp now owns 9,139,055 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $106,927,000 after buying an additional 924,365 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 97.91% of the company’s stock.

About Patterson-UTI Energy

Patterson-UTI Energy, Inc, through its subsidiaries, provides contract drilling services to oil and natural gas operators in the United States and internationally. It operates through three segments: Contract Drilling Services, Pressure Pumping Services, and Directional Drilling Services. The Contract Drilling Services segment markets its contract drilling services primarily in west Texas, Appalachia, Rockies, Oklahoma, South Texas, East Texas, and Colombia.