Ashburton Jersey Ltd Boosts Stock Holdings in Patterson-UTI Energy, Inc. (NASDAQ:PTEN)

Ashburton Jersey Ltd lifted its stake in shares of Patterson-UTI Energy, Inc. (NASDAQ:PTEN) by 26.4% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 200,570 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock after purchasing an additional 41,876 shares during the quarter. Patterson-UTI Energy comprises about 1.0% of Ashburton Jersey Ltd’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 21st largest position. Ashburton Jersey Ltd’s holdings in Patterson-UTI Energy were worth $2,166,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Blackstone Inc. purchased a new stake in Patterson-UTI Energy during the third quarter worth approximately $483,016,000. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in Patterson-UTI Energy by 74.9% during the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 43,194,132 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $597,807,000 after purchasing an additional 18,495,822 shares in the last quarter. Cerberus Capital Management L.P. acquired a new stake in shares of Patterson-UTI Energy in the third quarter valued at $188,486,000. FMR LLC boosted its position in shares of Patterson-UTI Energy by 21,195.0% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 11,655,391 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $161,311,000 after purchasing an additional 11,600,658 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Patterson-UTI Energy by 397.2% in the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 5,882,977 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $81,420,000 after buying an additional 4,699,682 shares in the last quarter. 97.91% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts recently commented on the stock. StockNews.com lowered shares of Patterson-UTI Energy from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 2nd. Evercore ISI reduced their target price on shares of Patterson-UTI Energy from $19.00 to $18.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, February 20th. Raymond James lowered their price objective on Patterson-UTI Energy from $16.00 to $15.00 and set a “strong-buy” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, February 16th. Royal Bank of Canada decreased their price target on shares of Patterson-UTI Energy from $17.00 to $16.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, February 16th. Finally, Bank of America lowered their price objective on shares of Patterson-UTI Energy from $14.50 to $14.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, April 15th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Patterson-UTI Energy presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $16.17.

Patterson-UTI Energy Stock Performance

PTEN stock traded up $0.03 during mid-day trading on Thursday, hitting $10.53. 7,370,284 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 6,531,870. The company has a current ratio of 1.41, a quick ratio of 1.24 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $11.67 and a 200-day simple moving average of $11.53. Patterson-UTI Energy, Inc. has a 1-year low of $9.70 and a 1-year high of $16.17. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.25 billion, a PE ratio of 10.40, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.53 and a beta of 2.23.

Patterson-UTI Energy (NASDAQ:PTEN) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 1st. The oil and gas company reported $0.15 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.13 by $0.02. Patterson-UTI Energy had a return on equity of 10.00% and a net margin of 5.94%. The business had revenue of $1.51 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.51 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.46 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts forecast that Patterson-UTI Energy, Inc. will post 0.62 earnings per share for the current year.

Patterson-UTI Energy Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 15th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 1st were paid a dividend of $0.08 per share. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.04%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, February 29th. Patterson-UTI Energy’s payout ratio is presently 31.68%.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Robert Wayne Drummond, Jr. sold 187,916 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $11.73, for a total transaction of $2,204,254.68. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 2,473,239 shares in the company, valued at approximately $29,011,093.47. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Corporate insiders own 2.30% of the company’s stock.

Patterson-UTI Energy 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.