Patterson-UTI Energy (NASDAQ:PTEN) PT Lowered to $17.00 at Evercore ISI

Patterson-UTI Energy (NASDAQ:PTEN) had its price objective dropped by analysts at Evercore ISI from $18.00 to $17.00 in a report issued on Friday, Benzinga reports. The firm presently has an “outperform” rating on the oil and gas company’s stock. Evercore ISI’s price target would suggest a potential upside of 59.18% from the company’s previous close.

Several other equities analysts also recently commented on the company. StockNews.com downgraded Patterson-UTI Energy from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 2nd. Raymond James lowered their price objective on Patterson-UTI Energy from $16.00 to $15.00 and set a “strong-buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, February 16th. Benchmark cut shares of Patterson-UTI Energy from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 16th. Royal Bank of Canada lowered their price target on shares of Patterson-UTI Energy from $17.00 to $16.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, February 16th. Finally, Bank of America cut their price objective on shares of Patterson-UTI Energy from $14.50 to $14.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Monday, April 15th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating, eight have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $16.08.

Patterson-UTI Energy Price Performance

NASDAQ:PTEN opened at $10.68 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.24, a current ratio of 1.41 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26. Patterson-UTI Energy has a 12-month low of $9.70 and a 12-month high of $16.17. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $11.63 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $11.48. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.31 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.71, a P/E/G ratio of 1.51 and a beta of 2.23.

Patterson-UTI Energy (NASDAQ:PTEN) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 1st. The oil and gas company reported $0.15 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.13 by $0.02. Patterson-UTI Energy had a return on equity of 7.58% and a net margin of 4.07%. The business had revenue of $1.51 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.51 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.46 EPS. On average, analysts anticipate that Patterson-UTI Energy will post 0.59 earnings per share for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Robert Wayne Drummond, Jr. sold 187,916 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $11.73, for a total transaction of $2,204,254.68. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 2,473,239 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $29,011,093.47. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Company insiders own 2.30% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Patterson-UTI Energy

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of PTEN. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in Patterson-UTI Energy by 4.3% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 45,041,600 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $486,449,000 after acquiring an additional 1,847,468 shares during the period. Blackstone Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Patterson-UTI Energy in the 3rd quarter worth about $483,016,000. Cerberus Capital Management L.P. bought a new position in Patterson-UTI Energy during the third quarter valued at about $188,486,000. FMR LLC increased its holdings in Patterson-UTI Energy by 21,195.0% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 11,655,391 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $161,311,000 after buying an additional 11,600,658 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Van ECK Associates Corp raised its position in Patterson-UTI Energy by 6.5% in the fourth quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 8,505,551 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $91,860,000 after acquiring an additional 519,259 shares during the period. 97.91% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

About Patterson-UTI Energy

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.