Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund Sells 1,447 Shares of Helmerich & Payne, Inc. (NYSE:HP)

Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund decreased its holdings in Helmerich & Payne, Inc. (NYSE:HP) by 2.7% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 52,801 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock after selling 1,447 shares during the quarter. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund owned 0.05% of Helmerich & Payne worth $1,691,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Creative Planning boosted its stake in shares of Helmerich & Payne by 13.3% during the 3rd quarter. Creative Planning now owns 23,656 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $720,000 after acquiring an additional 2,774 shares during the last quarter. Blue Trust Inc. raised its holdings in Helmerich & Payne by 127.8% in the 3rd quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 1,522 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $46,000 after purchasing an additional 854 shares during the period. Raymond James & Associates lifted its position in Helmerich & Payne by 33.6% during the third quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 93,310 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $2,838,000 after purchasing an additional 23,459 shares in the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. bought a new stake in Helmerich & Payne during the third quarter valued at about $2,158,000. Finally, Nisa Investment Advisors LLC increased its position in Helmerich & Payne by 2.0% in the third quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC now owns 96,420 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $2,933,000 after buying an additional 1,901 shares in the last quarter. 96.05% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Helmerich & Payne news, Director Belgacem Chariag acquired 37,356 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 10th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $27.08 per share, with a total value of $1,011,600.48. Following the purchase, the director now directly owns 54,606 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,478,730.48. This represents a 216.56 % increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO John W. Lindsay bought 20,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 10th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $27.55 per share, for a total transaction of $551,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 691,214 shares in the company, valued at approximately $19,042,945.70. This represents a 2.98 % increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Corporate insiders own 4.51% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Barclays lowered their price objective on Helmerich & Payne from $36.00 to $24.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, February 19th. Royal Bank of Canada lowered their price target on shares of Helmerich & Payne from $41.00 to $35.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, February 7th. Argus raised shares of Helmerich & Payne to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 11th. Evercore ISI restated an “in-line” rating and set a $39.00 price objective (down from $48.00) on shares of Helmerich & Payne in a research report on Wednesday, January 15th. Finally, Citigroup raised shares of Helmerich & Payne from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their target price for the stock from $33.00 to $40.00 in a report on Friday, January 10th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Helmerich & Payne has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $37.25.

Helmerich & Payne Stock Performance

HP opened at $26.46 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.60, a quick ratio of 2.52 and a current ratio of 2.81. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.63 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.70, a PEG ratio of 3.52 and a beta of 1.37. The company has a fifty day moving average of $31.12 and a 200 day moving average of $32.65. Helmerich & Payne, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $25.69 and a fifty-two week high of $44.11.

Helmerich & Payne (NYSE:HP) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 5th. The oil and gas company reported $0.71 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.69 by $0.02. Helmerich & Payne had a return on equity of 11.31% and a net margin of 11.02%. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Helmerich & Payne, Inc. will post 2.93 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Helmerich & Payne Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 14th were issued a dividend of $0.25 per share. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.78%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 14th. Helmerich & Payne’s dividend payout ratio is presently 32.89%.

Helmerich & Payne Profile

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.