Stifel Nicolaus Cuts Patterson-UTI Energy (NASDAQ:PTEN) Price Target to $13.00

Patterson-UTI Energy (NASDAQ:PTEN) had its price target lowered by Stifel Nicolaus from $14.00 to $13.00 in a report issued on Monday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a buy rating on the oil and gas company’s stock.

A number of other equities research analysts also recently issued reports on PTEN. Susquehanna decreased their price target on shares of Patterson-UTI Energy from $13.00 to $10.00 and set a “positive” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, October 11th. StockNews.com cut shares of Patterson-UTI Energy from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Saturday, October 12th. Royal Bank of Canada dropped their price target on Patterson-UTI Energy from $12.00 to $11.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, October 25th. Raymond James downgraded Patterson-UTI Energy from a “strong-buy” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research report on Monday. Finally, Citigroup lowered their price objective on Patterson-UTI Energy from $11.00 to $10.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $11.63.

Patterson-UTI Energy Stock Performance

NASDAQ:PTEN opened at $8.42 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.35, a current ratio of 1.52 and a quick ratio of 1.32. The company has a market cap of $3.28 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -3.84 and a beta of 2.09. Patterson-UTI Energy has a 1 year low of $7.15 and a 1 year high of $12.65. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $8.07 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $8.68.

Patterson-UTI Energy Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 16th. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 2nd were paid a dividend of $0.08 per share. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.80%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, December 2nd. Patterson-UTI Energy’s dividend payout ratio is presently -14.61%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Patterson-UTI Energy news, Director James Carl Stewart sold 80,000 shares of Patterson-UTI Energy stock in a transaction on Wednesday, December 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $7.36, for a total transaction of $588,800.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 32,438 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $238,743.68. The trade was a 71.15 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 2.30% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Patterson-UTI Energy

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Pacer Advisors Inc. grew its holdings in Patterson-UTI Energy by 35.9% during the 3rd quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 19,972,894 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $152,793,000 after acquiring an additional 5,275,525 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp boosted its stake in shares of Patterson-UTI Energy by 9.6% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 15,435,258 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $118,080,000 after purchasing an additional 1,352,840 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in Patterson-UTI Energy by 5.6% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 8,980,881 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $68,717,000 after buying an additional 478,064 shares during the period. Deprince Race & Zollo Inc. increased its holdings in Patterson-UTI Energy by 14.7% during the second quarter. Deprince Race & Zollo Inc. now owns 6,069,499 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $62,880,000 after buying an additional 778,581 shares during the period. Finally, American Century Companies Inc. raised its stake in Patterson-UTI Energy by 62.8% in the second quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 5,683,096 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $58,877,000 after buying an additional 2,191,330 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 97.91% of the company’s stock.

Patterson-UTI Energy Company Profile

Patterson-UTI Energy, Inc, through its subsidiaries, engages in the provision of contract drilling services to oil and natural gas operators in the United States and internationally. It operates through three segments: Drilling Services, Completion Services, and Drilling Products. The Contract Drilling Services segment provides contract and directional drilling services in onshore oil and natural gas basins, as well as engages in the service and re-certification of equipment for drilling contractors, and provision of electrical controls and automation to the energy, marine and mining industries.