Helmerich & Payne (NYSE:HP) Upgraded to "Hold" at Wall Street Zen

Key Points

• Wall Street Zen upgraded Helmerich & Payne to “Hold” from “Sell.” Despite mixed ratings, analysts’ consensus remains “Moderate Buy,” with an average price target of $44.18.
• HP shares opened at $39.91, while the company’s latest quarter showed a $0.11 per-share loss, missing estimates, despite revenue of $1.03 billion that exceeded expectations.
• Insiders sold approximately $4.9 million of stock over the past 90 days, while institutional investors own 96.05% of the company’s shares.

Helmerich & Payne (NYSE:HP - Get Free Report) was upgraded by research analysts at Wall Street Zen from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report issued on Saturday, Wall Street Zen reports.

Several other brokerages have also recently issued reports on HP. Royal Bank Of Canada boosted their price target on Helmerich & Payne from $44.00 to $49.00 and gave the company a "sector perform" rating in a research report on Thursday, September 10th. Citigroup upped their price target on Helmerich & Payne from $36.00 to $48.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Friday, September 4th. UBS Group began coverage on Helmerich & Payne in a report on Friday, October 2nd. They set a "buy" rating and a $49.00 price target for the company. Susquehanna boosted their price objective on shares of Helmerich & Payne from $44.00 to $50.00 and gave the company a "positive" rating in a research note on Monday. Finally, Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on shares of Helmerich & Payne from $36.00 to $41.00 and gave the stock an "underweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, August 20th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have assigned a Buy rating, five have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $44.18.

Helmerich & Payne Stock Down 0.7%

HP stock opened at $39.91 on Friday. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $41.30 and a 200 day moving average price of $38.01. Helmerich & Payne has a 12 month low of $21.73 and a 12 month high of $48.17. The company has a market cap of $3.99 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -28.31, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.14 and a beta of 0.69. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.69, a current ratio of 1.96 and a quick ratio of 1.55.

Helmerich & Payne (NYSE:HP - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 5th. The oil and gas company reported ($0.11) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.09 by ($0.20). The business had revenue of $1.03 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $987.70 million. Helmerich & Payne had a negative return on equity of 2.35% and a negative net margin of 3.43%. The company's revenue for the quarter was down .6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.22 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts expect that Helmerich & Payne will post -0.18 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Helmerich & Payne

In other news, SVP Cara Hair sold 11,149 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Monday, August 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $44.27, for a total value of $493,566.23. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president owned 136,095 shares in the company, valued at $6,024,925.65. This trade represents a 7.57% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Hans Helmerich sold 94,470 shares of Helmerich & Payne stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $43.90, for a total value of $4,147,233.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 20,000 shares of the company's stock, valued at $878,000. This trade represents a 82.53% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 110,673 shares of company stock valued at $4,864,590. Insiders own 4.40% of the company's stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. BlackRock Inc. acquired a new stake in Helmerich & Payne during the second quarter worth approximately $513,336,000. Bank of America Corp DE acquired a new position in Helmerich & Payne in the 2nd quarter valued at $43,370,000. Encompass Capital Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Helmerich & Payne by 165.1% in the 4th quarter. Encompass Capital Advisors LLC now owns 2,081,644 shares of the oil and gas company's stock valued at $59,702,000 after acquiring an additional 1,296,537 shares during the last quarter. Alyeska Investment Group L.P. lifted its stake in shares of Helmerich & Payne by 217.4% during the 2nd quarter. Alyeska Investment Group L.P. now owns 1,526,707 shares of the oil and gas company's stock worth $49,984,000 after purchasing an additional 1,045,727 shares during the period. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp purchased a new position in shares of Helmerich & Payne during the 2nd quarter worth $30,606,000. 96.05% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

About Helmerich & Payne

Helmerich & Payne, Inc is a contract drilling company that provides land and offshore drilling services to oil and natural gas exploration and production companies. Founded in 1920 and headquartered in Tulsa, Oklahoma, the company operates and manages drilling rigs used to develop unconventional and conventional energy resources.

Its services include drilling-rig contracting, rig management, operational support, and technology solutions designed to improve drilling efficiency, safety, and well performance.

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