Helmerich & Payne (NYSE:HP) Stock Rating Upgraded by Evercore ISI

Evercore ISI upgraded shares of Helmerich & Payne (NYSE:HP) to a strong-buy rating in a research note released on Friday, Zacks.com reports.

HP has been the topic of a number of other research reports. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their target price on Helmerich & Payne from $48.00 to $50.00 and gave the company a sector perform rating in a research note on Friday. Citigroup boosted their target price on Helmerich & Payne from $40.00 to $42.00 and gave the company a neutral rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 16th. Susquehanna lowered their target price on Helmerich & Payne from $52.00 to $50.00 and set a positive rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, April 26th. Benchmark reaffirmed a hold rating on shares of Helmerich & Payne in a research report on Thursday, July 25th. Finally, Bank of America reduced their price target on Helmerich & Payne from $42.50 to $40.00 and set a buy rating for the company in a research report on Monday, July 15th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating, two have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of Hold and an average target price of $41.88.

Helmerich & Payne Stock Performance

Shares of HP stock opened at $39.17 on Friday. Helmerich & Payne has a 1-year low of $32.17 and a 1-year high of $46.55. The company has a current ratio of 2.12, a quick ratio of 1.87 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.19. The company has a market capitalization of $3.87 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.19, a P/E/G ratio of 4.45 and a beta of 1.48. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $36.50 and its 200-day simple moving average is $38.25.

Helmerich & Payne (NYSE:HP) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 24th. The oil and gas company reported $0.92 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.77 by $0.15. Helmerich & Payne had a return on equity of 12.39% and a net margin of 12.72%. The business had revenue of $697.70 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $670.78 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.09 earnings per share. Helmerich & Payne’s revenue for the quarter was down 3.6% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Helmerich & Payne will post 3.44 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Helmerich & Payne Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 30th. Investors of record on Friday, August 16th will be given a dividend of $0.25 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, August 16th. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.55%. Helmerich & Payne’s dividend payout ratio is presently 28.57%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Helmerich & Payne

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in HP. Ridgewood Investments LLC raised its holdings in Helmerich & Payne by 2.5% in the 1st quarter. Ridgewood Investments LLC now owns 12,852 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $541,000 after acquiring an additional 308 shares in the last quarter. Lindbrook Capital LLC raised its holdings in Helmerich & Payne by 26.4% in the 1st quarter. Lindbrook Capital LLC now owns 1,698 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $71,000 after acquiring an additional 355 shares in the last quarter. Marathon Capital Management raised its holdings in Helmerich & Payne by 0.4% in the 4th quarter. Marathon Capital Management now owns 109,315 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $3,959,000 after acquiring an additional 409 shares in the last quarter. Savant Capital LLC raised its holdings in Helmerich & Payne by 3.0% in the 4th quarter. Savant Capital LLC now owns 14,882 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $539,000 after acquiring an additional 438 shares in the last quarter. Finally, M&T Bank Corp grew its stake in shares of Helmerich & Payne by 5.7% in the 4th quarter. M&T Bank Corp now owns 8,510 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $308,000 after purchasing an additional 457 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 96.05% of the company’s stock.

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.