Patterson-UTI Energy (NASDAQ:PTEN) Issues Earnings Results

Patterson-UTI Energy (NASDAQ:PTEN) released its earnings results on Wednesday. The oil and gas company reported $0.15 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.13 by $0.02, Zacks reports. The firm had revenue of $1.51 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.51 billion. Patterson-UTI Energy had a return on equity of 10.00% and a net margin of 5.94%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.46 EPS.

Patterson-UTI Energy Stock Performance

PTEN stock traded up $0.13 during trading hours on Thursday, hitting $10.63. 8,888,085 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 6,549,391. Patterson-UTI Energy has a 12 month low of $9.70 and a 12 month high of $16.17. 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 firm has a market capitalization of $4.29 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.43, a P/E/G ratio of 1.53 and a beta of 2.23. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $11.67 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $11.53.

Patterson-UTI Energy Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 15th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 1st were paid a dividend of $0.08 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, February 29th. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.01%. Patterson-UTI Energy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 31.68%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have issued reports on PTEN. Benchmark cut Patterson-UTI Energy from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 16th. Evercore ISI reduced their price objective 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. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Patterson-UTI Energy from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 2nd. Royal Bank of Canada reduced their price objective on shares of Patterson-UTI Energy from $17.00 to $16.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, February 16th. Finally, Raymond James reduced their price objective on shares of Patterson-UTI Energy from $16.00 to $15.00 and set a “strong-buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, February 16th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating, eight have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $16.17.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Robert Wayne Drummond, Jr. sold 187,916 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $11.73, for a total transaction of $2,204,254.68. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 2,473,239 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $29,011,093.47. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 2.30% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

About Patterson-UTI Energy

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.