Helmerich & Payne (NYSE:HP) Rating Increased to Buy at Citigroup

Helmerich & Payne (NYSE:HP) was upgraded by equities research analysts at Citigroup from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note issued on Friday,Briefing.com Automated Import reports. The firm currently has a $40.00 price objective on the oil and gas company’s stock. Citigroup’s target price suggests a potential upside of 21.84% from the stock’s current price.

A number of other equities analysts have also recently commented on the stock. Barclays dropped their price objective on shares of Helmerich & Payne from $39.00 to $36.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, November 20th. Benchmark reissued a “hold” rating on shares of Helmerich & Payne in a research note on Thursday, November 21st. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada decreased their price objective on Helmerich & Payne from $44.00 to $41.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, November 15th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating, three have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $39.57.

Helmerich & Payne Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:HP opened at $32.83 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $3.24 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.54, a P/E/G ratio of 4.10 and a beta of 1.39. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $33.61 and a 200 day moving average price of $34.20. Helmerich & Payne has a fifty-two week low of $29.46 and a fifty-two week high of $44.11. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61, a quick ratio of 2.40 and a current ratio of 2.67.

Helmerich & Payne (NYSE:HP) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, November 13th. The oil and gas company reported $0.76 EPS for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.76. Helmerich & Payne had a return on equity of 12.44% and a net margin of 12.48%. The company had revenue of $693.79 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $695.99 million. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.69 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 5.2% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Helmerich & Payne will post 3.12 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Fulton Bank N.A. grew its stake in Helmerich & Payne by 11.6% in the fourth quarter. Fulton Bank N.A. now owns 11,321 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $362,000 after purchasing an additional 1,180 shares in the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB lifted its holdings in shares of Helmerich & Payne by 1.3% in the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 143,636 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $4,602,000 after buying an additional 1,796 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its position in shares of Helmerich & Payne by 28.0% during the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 593,330 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $18,049,000 after buying an additional 129,613 shares in the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Helmerich & Payne by 0.4% in the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 157,568 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $4,793,000 after acquiring an additional 666 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Tidal Investments LLC raised its holdings in shares of Helmerich & Payne by 66.4% in the third quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 70,402 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $2,142,000 after acquiring an additional 28,101 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors 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.