Stanley Laman Group Ltd. Grows Stock Holdings in Patterson-UTI Energy, Inc. (NASDAQ:PTEN)

Stanley Laman Group Ltd. increased its stake in shares of Patterson-UTI Energy, Inc. (NASDAQ:PTEN) by 18.3% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 167,312 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock after buying an additional 25,919 shares during the period. Stanley Laman Group Ltd.’s holdings in Patterson-UTI Energy were worth $1,807,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in PTEN. GAMMA Investing LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Patterson-UTI Energy in the fourth quarter valued at about $77,000. New York State Common Retirement Fund lifted its holdings in shares of Patterson-UTI Energy by 6.9% in the fourth quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund now owns 785,643 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $8,485,000 after purchasing an additional 50,837 shares in the last quarter. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund lifted its holdings in shares of Patterson-UTI Energy by 11.6% in the fourth quarter. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund now owns 202,932 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $2,192,000 after purchasing an additional 21,031 shares in the last quarter. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC lifted its holdings in shares of Patterson-UTI Energy by 46.1% in the fourth quarter. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC now owns 414,357 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $4,475,000 after purchasing an additional 130,699 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank lifted its holdings in shares of Patterson-UTI Energy by 29.1% in the fourth quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 90,338 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $976,000 after purchasing an additional 20,382 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 97.91% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages recently issued reports on PTEN. Raymond James reduced their price objective on shares of Patterson-UTI Energy from $16.00 to $15.00 and set a “strong-buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, February 16th. Evercore ISI reduced their price objective on shares of Patterson-UTI Energy from $19.00 to $18.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, February 20th. 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 on the stock in a research note on Friday, February 16th. Susquehanna reissued a “positive” rating and set a $16.00 price objective on shares of Patterson-UTI Energy in a research note on Monday, April 8th. Finally, Benchmark downgraded shares of Patterson-UTI Energy from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 16th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $16.17.

Patterson-UTI Energy Stock Down 0.1 %

NASDAQ PTEN traded down $0.01 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $11.25. 5,225,025 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 6,510,431. Patterson-UTI Energy, Inc. 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 stock has a market capitalization of $4.54 billion, a PE ratio of 11.14, a PEG ratio of 1.69 and a beta of 2.21. The company has a 50 day moving average of $11.73 and a two-hundred day moving average of $11.59.

Patterson-UTI Energy (NASDAQ:PTEN) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 14th. The oil and gas company reported $0.19 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.18 by $0.01. Patterson-UTI Energy had a net margin of 5.94% and a return on equity of 10.00%. The company had revenue of $1.58 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.50 billion. As a group, equities analysts expect that Patterson-UTI Energy, Inc. will post 0.6 earnings per share for the current year.

Patterson-UTI Energy Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 15th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 1st were given a $0.08 dividend. 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 2.84%. Patterson-UTI Energy’s payout ratio is currently 31.68%.

Insider Transactions at Patterson-UTI Energy

In other news, Director Robert Wayne Drummond, Jr. sold 187,916 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $11.73, for a total value of $2,204,254.68. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 2,473,239 shares in the company, valued at approximately $29,011,093.47. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. 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.