Goldman Sachs Group Inc. Raises Stake in Precision Drilling Corporation $PDS

Key Points

• Goldman Sachs Group Inc. increased its holdings in Precision Drilling Corporation by 28.4% in Q1, owning 138,896 shares valued at approximately $6.47 million.
• Several hedge funds, including National Bank of Canada and Aegis Financial Corp, also raised their stakes in Precision Drilling, indicating growing institutional interest in the company.
• Precision Drilling reported a significant earnings per share (EPS) of $0.77 for the last quarter, surpassing estimates and indicating strong financial performance despite lower revenues compared to analyst forecasts.

Goldman Sachs Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Precision Drilling Corporation (NYSE:PDS - Free Report) TSE: PD by 28.4% during the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 138,896 shares of the oil and gas company's stock after purchasing an additional 30,690 shares during the period. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. owned about 1.04% of Precision Drilling worth $6,475,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Cubist Systematic Strategies LLC purchased a new stake in Precision Drilling in the 1st quarter worth about $45,000. Deutsche Bank AG purchased a new stake in Precision Drilling in the 4th quarter worth about $85,000. Aristides Capital LLC purchased a new stake in Precision Drilling in the 1st quarter worth about $252,000. Vident Advisory LLC increased its holdings in Precision Drilling by 8.2% in the 1st quarter. Vident Advisory LLC now owns 6,766 shares of the oil and gas company's stock worth $315,000 after acquiring an additional 512 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Alberta Investment Management Corp purchased a new stake in Precision Drilling in the 1st quarter worth about $344,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 48.86% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

PDS has been the subject of several recent research reports. Piper Sandler reissued an "overweight" rating and issued a $74.00 price objective (up previously from $72.00) on shares of Precision Drilling in a report on Thursday, August 14th. Zacks Research lowered Precision Drilling from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Monday. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada lifted their target price on Precision Drilling from $89.00 to $100.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, July 31st. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $87.00.

Precision Drilling Price Performance

Shares of NYSE PDS traded down $0.90 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $57.05. 35,521 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 110,465. Precision Drilling Corporation has a 12-month low of $36.20 and a 12-month high of $67.40. The company has a current ratio of 1.01, a quick ratio of 0.90 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33. The company has a market cap of $752.09 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.01 and a beta of 1.15. The business's fifty day moving average price is $54.85 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $48.50.

Precision Drilling (NYSE:PDS - Get Free Report) TSE: PD last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 29th. The oil and gas company reported $0.77 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($0.02) by $0.79. Precision Drilling had a return on equity of 6.21% and a net margin of 5.67%.The company had revenue of $299.14 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $435.47 million. As a group, research analysts forecast that Precision Drilling Corporation will post 7.1 EPS for the current fiscal year.

About Precision Drilling

Precision Drilling Corporation, a drilling company, provides onshore drilling, completion, and production services to exploration and production companies in the oil and natural gas and geothermal industries in North America and the Middle East. The company operates through Contract Drilling Services and Completion and Production Services segments.