Helmerich & Payne’s (HP) Hold Rating Reaffirmed at Benchmark

Benchmark reiterated their hold rating on shares of Helmerich & Payne (NYSE:HP) in a research note issued to investors on Thursday,Benzinga reports.

Several other research firms have also recently commented on HP. Barclays dropped their price objective on Helmerich & Payne from $39.00 to $36.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday. Citigroup cut their target price on shares of Helmerich & Payne from $41.00 to $33.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, September 13th. Royal Bank of Canada lowered their price target on Helmerich & Payne from $44.00 to $41.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, November 15th. The Goldman Sachs Group cut their price objective on Helmerich & Payne from $38.00 to $34.00 and set a “sell” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, August 29th. Finally, Evercore ISI raised Helmerich & Payne to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, July 26th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating, two have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Helmerich & Payne currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $38.57.

Helmerich & Payne Stock Up 1.8 %

HP traded up $0.63 during trading on Thursday, reaching $35.06. The stock had a trading volume of 24,027 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,376,691. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $33.73 and its two-hundred day moving average is $35.04. The company has a market capitalization of $3.46 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.06, a P/E/G ratio of 3.97 and a beta of 1.40. The company has a current ratio of 2.67, a quick ratio of 2.40 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61. Helmerich & Payne has a one year low of $29.46 and a one year high of $44.11.

Helmerich & Payne (NYSE:HP) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, November 13th. The oil and gas company reported $0.76 EPS for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $0.76. Helmerich & Payne had a net margin of 12.48% and a return on equity of 12.44%. The business had revenue of $693.79 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $695.99 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.69 earnings per share. Helmerich & Payne’s quarterly revenue was up 5.2% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts expect that Helmerich & Payne will post 3.21 earnings per share for the current year.

Helmerich & Payne Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 2nd. Investors of record on Monday, November 18th will be paid a dividend of $0.25 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, November 18th. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.85%. Helmerich & Payne’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 29.07%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D raised its holdings in Helmerich & Payne by 18.1% during the third quarter. State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D now owns 58,634 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $1,784,000 after acquiring an additional 9,004 shares during the period. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC lifted its holdings in Helmerich & Payne by 13.1% in the 2nd quarter. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC now owns 188,402 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $6,809,000 after purchasing an additional 21,852 shares in the last quarter. Caxton Associates LP bought a new position in Helmerich & Payne in the 1st quarter worth approximately $642,000. Bayesian Capital Management LP bought a new stake in shares of Helmerich & Payne during the first quarter valued at approximately $837,000. Finally, William B. Walkup & Associates Inc. bought a new position in shares of Helmerich & Payne during the second quarter worth $1,274,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 96.05% of the company’s stock.

Helmerich & Payne Company Profile

Founded in 1920, Helmerich & Payne, Inc (H&P) (NYSE: HP) is committed to delivering industry leading levels of drilling productivity and reliability. H&P operates with the highest level of integrity, safety and innovation to deliver superior results for its customers and returns for shareholders.