Aptus Capital Advisors LLC Acquires 30,734 Shares of Helmerich & Payne, Inc. (NYSE:HP)

Aptus Capital Advisors LLC lifted its position in Helmerich & Payne, Inc. (NYSE:HP - Free Report) by 22.9% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 165,040 shares of the oil and gas company's stock after buying an additional 30,734 shares during the period. Aptus Capital Advisors LLC owned approximately 0.17% of Helmerich & Payne worth $5,285,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Kestra Investment Management LLC bought a new stake in Helmerich & Payne in the fourth quarter worth about $27,000. Covestor Ltd grew its stake in shares of Helmerich & Payne by 61.3% in the 4th quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 2,386 shares of the oil and gas company's stock worth $76,000 after purchasing an additional 907 shares during the last quarter. Steph & Co. bought a new stake in shares of Helmerich & Payne in the 4th quarter worth approximately $87,000. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC lifted its stake in Helmerich & Payne by 82.5% during the fourth quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 2,805 shares of the oil and gas company's stock valued at $88,000 after purchasing an additional 1,268 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Sterling Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in Helmerich & Payne by 817.5% during the fourth quarter. Sterling Capital Management LLC now owns 3,046 shares of the oil and gas company's stock worth $98,000 after buying an additional 2,714 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 96.05% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have recently commented on HP. TD Cowen cut their price objective on Helmerich & Payne from $28.00 to $26.00 and set a "hold" rating for the company in a research report on Friday. The Goldman Sachs Group reduced their target price on Helmerich & Payne from $32.00 to $25.00 and set a "sell" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, April 10th. Evercore ISI reissued an "in-line" rating and issued a $39.00 price target (down previously from $48.00) on shares of Helmerich & Payne in a research note on Wednesday, January 15th. Royal Bank of Canada cut their price objective on Helmerich & Payne from $41.00 to $35.00 and set a "sector perform" rating on the stock in a report on Friday, February 7th. Finally, Citigroup decreased their target price on shares of Helmerich & Payne from $33.00 to $32.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, April 8th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $31.20.

Helmerich & Payne Stock Down 0.3 %

HP traded down $0.06 during trading on Friday, reaching $18.28. 1,713,775 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,546,630. The stock's 50-day simple moving average is $22.20 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $28.83. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.60, a current ratio of 2.81 and a quick ratio of 2.52. Helmerich & Payne, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $17.60 and a fifty-two week high of $42.60. The stock has a market cap of $1.82 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 6.01, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.52 and a beta of 0.93.

Helmerich & Payne (NYSE:HP - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 7th. The oil and gas company reported $0.02 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.65 by ($0.63). The firm had revenue of $1.02 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $961.03 million. Helmerich & Payne had a return on equity of 11.31% and a net margin of 11.02%. The company's quarterly revenue was up 47.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.84 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Helmerich & Payne, Inc. will post 2.93 EPS for the current year.

Helmerich & Payne Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 30th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, May 15th will be given a dividend of $0.25 per share. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.47%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 15th. Helmerich & Payne's payout ratio is 32.89%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Helmerich & Payne

In other news, CEO John W. Lindsay bought 20,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 10th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $27.55 per share, for a total transaction of $551,000.00. Following the purchase, the chief executive officer now owns 691,214 shares of the company's stock, valued at $19,042,945.70. This represents a 2.98 % increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director Belgacem Chariag purchased 37,356 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Monday, February 10th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $27.08 per share, with a total value of $1,011,600.48. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director now directly owns 54,606 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,478,730.48. This trade represents a 216.56 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Corporate insiders own 4.51% of the company's stock.

Helmerich & Payne Profile

Founded in 1920, Helmerich & Payne, Inc (H&P) NYSE: HP is committed to delivering industry leading levels of drilling productivity and reliability. H&P operates with the highest level of integrity, safety and innovation to deliver superior results for its customers and returns for shareholders.