Helmerich & Payne (NYSE:HP) Stock Gets Downgrade from Wall Street Zen

Helmerich & Payne (NYSE:HP) was downgraded by Wall Street Zen from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note issued to investors on Saturday, Wall Street Zen reports.

A number of other research analysts also recently commented on HP. Susquehanna increased their target price on shares of Helmerich & Payne from $44.00 to $50.00 and gave the company a “positive” rating in a research report on Monday, October 5th. Royal Bank Of Canada boosted their price target on shares of Helmerich & Payne from $44.00 to $49.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, September 10th. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Helmerich & Payne from a “sell (d+)” rating to a “hold (c-)” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 8th. Barclays raised their price objective on Helmerich & Payne from $50.00 to $51.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, October 12th. Finally, Bank of America reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Helmerich & Payne in a research report on Monday, October 12th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, five have issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $44.36.

Helmerich & Payne Price Performance

HP stock opened at $35.23 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $3.52 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -24.99, a PEG ratio of 0.90 and a beta of 0.63. The company has a quick ratio of 1.55, a current ratio of 1.96 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.69. Helmerich & Payne has a fifty-two week low of $24.45 and a fifty-two week high of $48.17. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $40.25 and a 200 day moving average price of $37.35.

Insider Activity

In other news, CAO Sara Momper sold 5,054 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $44.28, for a total value of $223,791.12. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer directly owned 16,958 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $750,900.24. This represents a 22.96% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director Hans Helmerich sold 94,470 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $43.90, for a total transaction of $4,147,233.00. Following the sale, the director owned 20,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $878,000. This trade represents a 82.53% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last three months, insiders sold 110,673 shares of company stock valued at $4,864,590. Insiders own 4.40% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Helmerich & Payne

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in HP. BlackRock Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Helmerich & Payne during the second quarter worth $513,336,000. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its stake in Helmerich & Payne by 11.0% in the 1st quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 5,735,765 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $206,660,000 after buying an additional 570,500 shares during the period. Bank of America Corp DE increased its stake in Helmerich & Payne by 109.2% in the 1st quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 1,676,169 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $60,392,000 after buying an additional 874,823 shares during the period. Alyeska Investment Group L.P. increased its stake in Helmerich & Payne by 217.4% in the 2nd quarter. Alyeska Investment Group L.P. now owns 1,526,707 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $49,984,000 after buying an additional 1,045,727 shares during the period. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp purchased a new position in Helmerich & Payne during the 2nd quarter worth $30,606,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 96.05% of the company’s stock.

Helmerich & Payne Company Profile

Helmerich & Payne, Inc is a drilling contractor that provides services and technology to oil and natural gas companies. Founded in 1920 and headquartered in Tulsa, Oklahoma, the company has a long history in the drilling industry.

Its operations include contract drilling with land rigs, offshore platform rigs and related drilling solutions. The company is known for its FlexRig fleet and also offers technologies and services designed to support drilling performance and efficiency.

Helmerich & Payne serves customers in the United States and international markets.