Helmerich & Payne, Inc. (NYSE:HP) Sees Large Decline in Short Interest

Helmerich & Payne, Inc. (NYSE:HP) was the target of a significant decrease in short interest in the month of October. As of October 31st, there was short interest totalling 11,790,000 shares, a decrease of 12.2% from the October 15th total of 13,430,000 shares. Approximately 12.4% of the company’s shares are short sold. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 1,510,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 7.8 days.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Helmerich & Payne

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of HP. Headlands Technologies LLC bought a new stake in shares of Helmerich & Payne during the 1st quarter valued at about $33,000. Covestor Ltd grew its stake in shares of Helmerich & Payne by 253.4% during the 1st quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 940 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $40,000 after acquiring an additional 674 shares during the period. Blue Trust Inc. increased 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 acquiring an additional 854 shares in the last quarter. Quarry LP bought a new stake in Helmerich & Payne during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $48,000. Finally, Eastern Bank purchased a new position in Helmerich & Payne during the third quarter valued at approximately $61,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 96.05% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on the stock. Evercore ISI upgraded shares of Helmerich & Payne to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, July 26th. Barclays dropped their price objective on shares of Helmerich & Payne from $42.00 to $39.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th. The Goldman Sachs Group decreased their price target on shares of Helmerich & Payne from $38.00 to $34.00 and set a “sell” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, August 29th. Benchmark reissued a “hold” rating on shares of Helmerich & Payne in a report on Monday, August 5th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reduced their price objective on shares of Helmerich & Payne from $44.00 to $41.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating, two have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Helmerich & Payne has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $39.00.

Helmerich & Payne Trading Up 0.1 %

Shares of Helmerich & Payne stock traded up $0.02 on Monday, hitting $33.62. The stock had a trading volume of 1,323,658 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,386,097. The company has a quick ratio of 1.87, a current ratio of 2.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61. Helmerich & Payne has a one year low of $29.46 and a one year high of $44.11. The stock has a market cap of $3.32 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.77, a PEG ratio of 3.59 and a beta of 1.40. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $33.53 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $35.09.

Helmerich & Payne (NYSE:HP) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, November 13th. The oil and gas company reported $0.76 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $0.76. Helmerich & Payne had a net margin of 12.48% and a return on equity of 12.44%. The business had revenue of $693.79 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $695.99 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.69 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Helmerich & Payne will post 3.57 EPS for the current year.

Helmerich & Payne Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 2nd. Stockholders of record on Monday, November 18th will be given a $0.25 dividend. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.97%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, November 18th. Helmerich & Payne’s dividend payout ratio is presently 29.07%.

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.