Precision Drilling Co. (NYSE:PDS) Short Interest Up 26.0% in March

Precision Drilling Co. (NYSE:PDS) (TSE:PD) was the recipient of a large growth in short interest in the month of March. As of March 15th, there was short interest totalling 337,300 shares, a growth of 26.0% from the February 28th total of 267,700 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 101,200 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 3.3 days. Currently, 2.6% of the company’s stock are sold short.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in Precision Drilling by 6.6% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 6,867 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $425,000 after acquiring an additional 424 shares in the last quarter. Mountain Lake Investment Management LLC raised its position in shares of Precision Drilling by 107.9% in the 4th quarter. Mountain Lake Investment Management LLC now owns 51,981 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $3,174,000 after purchasing an additional 26,981 shares during the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. boosted its stake in Precision Drilling by 21.9% in the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 63,114 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $3,961,000 after purchasing an additional 11,331 shares in the last quarter. National Bank of Canada FI grew its position in Precision Drilling by 1.4% during the 3rd quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 726,284 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $44,740,000 after purchasing an additional 10,318 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Polar Asset Management Partners Inc. increased its stake in Precision Drilling by 111.1% during the 3rd quarter. Polar Asset Management Partners Inc. now owns 68,600 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $4,226,000 after purchasing an additional 36,100 shares in the last quarter. 48.86% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on PDS shares. StockNews.com lowered shares of Precision Drilling from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, March 24th. TD Securities lowered Precision Drilling from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, February 3rd.

Precision Drilling Stock Up 0.7 %

NYSE:PDS opened at $48.12 on Thursday. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $51.43 and its 200-day simple moving average is $58.43. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.48, a quick ratio of 1.35 and a current ratio of 1.48. Precision Drilling has a fifty-two week low of $43.00 and a fifty-two week high of $79.07. The stock has a market capitalization of $651.93 million, a P/E ratio of 8.94 and a beta of 1.53.

Precision Drilling (NYSE:PDS) (TSE:PD) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The oil and gas company reported $0.76 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.40 by ($0.64). Precision Drilling had a net margin of 5.87% and a return on equity of 6.72%. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Precision Drilling will post 7.1 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

About Precision Drilling

Precision Drilling Corporation, a drilling company, provides onshore drilling, completion, and production services to exploration and production companies in the oil and natural gas and geothermal industries in North America and the Middle East. The company operates through Contract Drilling Services and Completion and Production Services segments.