Morgan Stanley Cuts Helmerich & Payne (NYSE:HP) Price Target to $20.00

Helmerich & Payne (NYSE:HP) had its price objective cut by Morgan Stanley from $27.00 to $20.00 in a research note released on Friday,Benzinga reports. They currently have an underweight rating on the oil and gas company’s stock.

Several other research firms have also recently commented on HP. TD Cowen dropped their target price on shares of Helmerich & Payne from $28.00 to $26.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, May 9th. Barclays cut their price target on shares of Helmerich & Payne from $24.00 to $20.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, May 14th. Susquehanna cut their price target on shares of Helmerich & Payne from $43.00 to $28.00 and set a “positive” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, April 14th. The Goldman Sachs Group cut their price target on shares of Helmerich & Payne from $32.00 to $25.00 and set a “sell” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, April 10th. Finally, Citigroup cut their price target on shares of Helmerich & Payne from $32.00 to $25.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, May 13th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Helmerich & Payne presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $29.40.

Helmerich & Payne Stock Performance

Shares of HP stock opened at $17.82 on Friday. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $21.53 and a 200-day moving average of $28.27. The company has a market cap of $1.77 billion, a P/E ratio of 5.86, a P/E/G ratio of 3.52 and a beta of 0.93. 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 has a one year low of $17.49 and a one year high of $42.60.

Helmerich & Payne (NYSE:HP) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, May 7th. The oil and gas company reported $0.02 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.65 by ($0.63). Helmerich & Payne had a return on equity of 11.31% and a net margin of 11.02%. The firm had revenue of $1.02 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $961.03 million. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.84 EPS. Helmerich & Payne’s quarterly revenue was up 47.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts forecast that Helmerich & Payne will post 2.93 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Helmerich & Payne Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 30th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, May 15th will be issued a dividend of $0.25 per share. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.61%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 15th. Helmerich & Payne’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 45.66%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Helmerich & Payne

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in HP. Empowered Funds LLC increased its position in shares of Helmerich & Payne by 9.9% during the first quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 9,459 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $247,000 after buying an additional 852 shares during the period. Caxton Associates LLP bought a new stake in shares of Helmerich & Payne during the first quarter valued at about $665,000. Petrus Trust Company LTA bought a new stake in shares of Helmerich & Payne during the first quarter valued at about $468,000. PharVision Advisers LLC bought a new stake in shares of Helmerich & Payne during the first quarter valued at about $247,000. Finally, NewEdge Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Helmerich & Payne by 39,685.1% during the first quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 34,613 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $904,000 after buying an additional 34,526 shares during the period. 96.05% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.