Patterson-UTI Energy, Inc. (NASDAQ:PTEN) Sees Significant Increase in Short Interest

Patterson-UTI Energy, Inc. (NASDAQ:PTEN) saw a significant growth in short interest in May. As of May 29th, there was short interest totaling 26,352,142 shares, a growth of 82.2% from the May 14th total of 14,465,559 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 7,961,491 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 3.3 days. Approximately 7.1% of the shares of the stock are short sold.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

PTEN has been the topic of several analyst reports. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price objective on shares of Patterson-UTI Energy from $14.00 to $15.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday. Barclays upgraded shares of Patterson-UTI Energy from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $10.00 to $15.00 in a report on Thursday, May 7th. Citigroup raised their price objective on shares of Patterson-UTI Energy from $9.00 to $11.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 15th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their target price on shares of Patterson-UTI Energy from $11.00 to $13.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, June 4th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada raised their target price on shares of Patterson-UTI Energy from $14.00 to $15.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, May 29th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have given a Buy rating, four have issued a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $12.40.

Insider Activity at Patterson-UTI Energy

In other news, Director Robert Wayne Drummond, Jr. sold 322,699 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $12.04, for a total transaction of $3,885,295.96. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 1,190,248 shares in the company, valued at approximately $14,330,585.92. This represents a 21.33% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, COO James Michael Holcomb sold 150,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $11.47, for a total transaction of $1,720,500.00. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer owned 421,523 shares in the company, valued at $4,834,868.81. The trade was a 26.25% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold 1,007,844 shares of company stock valued at $11,922,302 in the last three months. 2.20% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Alpine Woods Capital Investors LLC acquired a new position in Patterson-UTI Energy in the 1st quarter valued at about $243,000. Glenmede Trust Co. NA grew its stake in Patterson-UTI Energy by 199.9% in the 1st quarter. Glenmede Trust Co. NA now owns 35,637 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $386,000 after buying an additional 23,755 shares during the last quarter. Bank of America Corp DE grew its stake in Patterson-UTI Energy by 10.9% in the 1st quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 4,855,166 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $52,581,000 after buying an additional 475,623 shares during the last quarter. Amundi grew its stake in Patterson-UTI Energy by 646.3% in the 1st quarter. Amundi now owns 110,955 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $1,202,000 after buying an additional 96,088 shares during the last quarter. Finally, California State Teachers Retirement System grew its stake in Patterson-UTI Energy by 20.4% in the 1st quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System now owns 425,281 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $4,606,000 after buying an additional 72,082 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 97.91% of the company’s stock.

Patterson-UTI Energy Trading Down 2.9%

Shares of Patterson-UTI Energy stock opened at $10.35 on Wednesday. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $11.41 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $9.13. Patterson-UTI Energy has a 1 year low of $5.10 and a 1 year high of $13.08. The company has a market capitalization of $3.93 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -33.39 and a beta of 0.61. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39, a current ratio of 1.84 and a quick ratio of 1.63.

Patterson-UTI Energy (NASDAQ:PTEN) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 22nd. The oil and gas company reported ($0.06) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.10) by $0.04. Patterson-UTI Energy had a negative return on equity of 2.32% and a negative net margin of 2.56%.The business had revenue of $1.12 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.11 billion. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 12.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts forecast that Patterson-UTI Energy will post -0.15 EPS for the current year.

Patterson-UTI Energy Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 15th. Investors of record on Monday, June 1st were paid a $0.10 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 1st. This represents a $0.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.9%. Patterson-UTI Energy’s dividend payout ratio is -129.03%.

About Patterson-UTI Energy

Patterson-UTI Energy provides a comprehensive suite of onshore contract drilling and pressure pumping services to exploration and production companies in North America. The company’s core offerings include land-based drilling rigs, directional drilling, hydraulic fracturing services, downhole tool rental and well-servicing equipment. By integrating drilling and completion capabilities, Patterson-UTI Energy offers operators a streamlined solution designed to improve operational efficiency and well performance.

Headquartered in Houston, Texas, Patterson-UTI Energy traces its origins to its founding in 1978 and was later incorporated in Delaware in 1996.