Sprott Inc. Increases Stock Holdings in Helmerich & Payne, Inc. $HP

Key Points

• Sprott Inc. increased its holdings in Helmerich & Payne, Inc. by 15.4%, now owning approximately 684,273 shares worth about $17.87 million.
• Helmerich & Payne reported quarterly earnings of $0.22 EPS, exceeding estimates, with a year-over-year revenue increase of 49.2%.
• Despite positive earnings, analysts have lowered their price targets on Helmerich & Payne, with ratings ranging from "buy" to "sell" among various financial institutions.

Sprott Inc. boosted its position in shares of Helmerich & Payne, Inc. (NYSE:HP - Free Report) by 15.4% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 684,273 shares of the oil and gas company's stock after purchasing an additional 91,204 shares during the quarter. Helmerich & Payne makes up 1.0% of Sprott Inc.'s portfolio, making the stock its 29th biggest holding. Sprott Inc. owned 0.69% of Helmerich & Payne worth $17,873,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Ellis Investment Partners LLC lifted its position in shares of Helmerich & Payne by 4.5% in the first quarter. Ellis Investment Partners LLC now owns 12,999 shares of the oil and gas company's stock valued at $340,000 after acquiring an additional 558 shares in the last quarter. Ridgewood Investments LLC lifted its position in shares of Helmerich & Payne by 4.4% in the first quarter. Ridgewood Investments LLC now owns 13,385 shares of the oil and gas company's stock valued at $350,000 after acquiring an additional 569 shares in the last quarter. Xponance Inc. lifted its position in shares of Helmerich & Payne by 7.6% in the first quarter. Xponance Inc. now owns 8,294 shares of the oil and gas company's stock valued at $217,000 after acquiring an additional 587 shares in the last quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc lifted its position in shares of Helmerich & Payne by 104.2% in the first quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 1,699 shares of the oil and gas company's stock valued at $44,000 after acquiring an additional 867 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Lmcg Investments LLC lifted its position in shares of Helmerich & Payne by 0.8% in the first quarter. Lmcg Investments LLC now owns 120,164 shares of the oil and gas company's stock valued at $3,139,000 after acquiring an additional 931 shares in the last quarter. 96.05% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have recently issued reports on HP shares. TD Cowen upped their price objective on Helmerich & Payne from $26.00 to $27.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 19th. The Goldman Sachs Group reduced their target price on Helmerich & Payne from $25.00 to $17.00 and set a "sell" rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, June 24th. Piper Sandler increased their target price on Helmerich & Payne from $20.00 to $21.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Thursday, August 14th. Morgan Stanley reduced their target price on Helmerich & Payne from $27.00 to $20.00 and set an "underweight" rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, May 16th. Finally, Wall Street Zen downgraded Helmerich & Payne from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 22nd. One analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, ten have issued a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Reduce" and an average price target of $22.20.

Helmerich & Payne Trading Up 5.4%

NYSE:HP traded up $0.9630 on Friday, hitting $18.8930. 1,944,398 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,450,482. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $16.70 and a 200-day moving average of $19.89. The stock has a market cap of $1.88 billion, a PE ratio of -57.25 and a beta of 0.87. The company has a current ratio of 1.84, a quick ratio of 1.43 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.76. Helmerich & Payne, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $14.65 and a fifty-two week high of $37.46.

Helmerich & Payne (NYSE:HP - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 6th. The oil and gas company reported $0.22 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.20 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $1.04 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1 billion. Helmerich & Payne had a positive return on equity of 5.81% and a negative net margin of 0.90%.The company's quarterly revenue was up 49.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.92 EPS. As a group, equities analysts expect that Helmerich & Payne, Inc. will post 2.93 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Helmerich & Payne Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 29th. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 15th will be issued a $0.25 dividend. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.3%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, August 15th. Helmerich & Payne's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is -303.03%.

Insider Activity at Helmerich & Payne

In other news, CAO Sara Marie Momper sold 6,700 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $17.83, for a total value of $119,461.00. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer directly owned 21,908 shares in the company, valued at $390,619.64. This trade represents a 23.42% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. 4.51% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

About Helmerich & Payne

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.