Patterson-UTI Energy (NASDAQ:PTEN) Price Target Cut to $19.00

Patterson-UTI Energy (NASDAQ:PTEN) had its price objective cut by research analysts at Piper Sandler from $20.00 to $19.00 in a research report issued to clients and investors on Monday, Benzinga reports. The firm currently has an “overweight” rating on the oil and gas company’s stock. Piper Sandler’s price target points to a potential upside of 56.12% from the stock’s previous close.

A number of other equities research analysts have also recently commented on the stock. Benchmark upgraded shares of Patterson-UTI Energy from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 19th. Royal Bank of Canada decreased their price objective on Patterson-UTI Energy from $19.00 to $17.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, November 9th. TheStreet upgraded Patterson-UTI Energy from a “c+” rating to a “b-” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 26th. Raymond James dropped their price target on Patterson-UTI Energy from $23.00 to $21.00 and set a “strong-buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, November 9th. Finally, Morgan Stanley lowered Patterson-UTI Energy from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and dropped their target price for the company from $20.00 to $17.00 in a research report on Tuesday, October 17th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $17.30.

Patterson-UTI Energy Trading Up 0.3 %

Shares of PTEN opened at $12.17 on Monday. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $13.66 and its 200 day simple moving average is $13.07. The company has a market capitalization of $2.53 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.22, a P/E/G ratio of 0.15 and a beta of 2.41. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26, a current ratio of 1.37 and a quick ratio of 1.19. Patterson-UTI Energy has a 1-year low of $9.70 and a 1-year high of $19.08.

Patterson-UTI Energy (NASDAQ:PTEN) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, November 7th. The oil and gas company reported $0.20 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.24 by ($0.04). Patterson-UTI Energy had a return on equity of 14.08% and a net margin of 8.49%. The business had revenue of $1.01 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $978.20 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.28 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts forecast that Patterson-UTI Energy will post 1.46 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Patterson-UTI Energy news, SVP Seth David Wexler sold 37,500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $15.98, for a total transaction of $599,250.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 340,418 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,439,879.64. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In other news, insider James Michael Holcomb sold 11,816 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, September 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $15.95, for a total transaction of $188,465.20. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 376,109 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,998,938.55. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, SVP Seth David Wexler sold 37,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $15.98, for a total transaction of $599,250.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 340,418 shares in the company, valued at $5,439,879.64. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 131,816 shares of company stock valued at $2,091,465. 2.40% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Patterson-UTI Energy

Large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Blackstone Inc. bought a new position in shares of Patterson-UTI Energy in the third quarter worth approximately $483,016,000. Cerberus Capital Management L.P. purchased a new position in Patterson-UTI Energy in the 3rd quarter worth about $188,486,000. FMR LLC increased its stake in Patterson-UTI Energy by 21,195.0% in the 3rd 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 period. Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its holdings in Patterson-UTI Energy by 397.2% during the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 5,882,977 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $81,420,000 after acquiring an additional 4,699,682 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Van ECK Associates Corp grew its holdings in Patterson-UTI Energy by 60.6% during the 3rd quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 7,986,292 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $110,531,000 after acquiring an additional 3,013,692 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 97.91% of the company’s stock.

About Patterson-UTI Energy

Patterson-UTI Energy, Inc, through its subsidiaries, provides contract drilling services to oil and natural gas operators in the United States and internationally. It operates through three segments: Contract Drilling Services, Pressure Pumping Services, and Directional Drilling Services. The Contract Drilling Services segment markets its contract drilling services primarily in west Texas, Appalachia, Rockies, Oklahoma, South Texas, East Texas, and Colombia.