First Eagle Investment Management LLC Acquires 7,200 Shares of Helmerich & Payne, Inc. (NYSE:HP)

First Eagle Investment Management LLC boosted its holdings in Helmerich & Payne, Inc. (NYSE:HP) by 5.5% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 137,693 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock after acquiring an additional 7,200 shares during the quarter. First Eagle Investment Management LLC owned 0.14% of Helmerich & Payne worth $4,409,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Kestra Investment Management LLC bought a new position in Helmerich & Payne in the 4th quarter valued at about $27,000. Covestor Ltd lifted its position in Helmerich & Payne by 76.9% in the 3rd quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 1,479 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $45,000 after acquiring an additional 643 shares in the last quarter. Quarry LP bought a new position in Helmerich & Payne in the 3rd quarter valued at about $48,000. Steph & Co. bought a new position in Helmerich & Payne in the 4th quarter valued at about $87,000. Finally, Smartleaf Asset Management LLC lifted its position in Helmerich & Payne by 82.5% in the 4th quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 2,805 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $88,000 after acquiring an additional 1,268 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 96.05% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages recently weighed in on HP. Citigroup raised shares of Helmerich & Payne from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price target for the company from $33.00 to $40.00 in a research report on Friday, January 10th. Evercore ISI reissued an “in-line” rating and set a $39.00 target price (down previously from $48.00) on shares of Helmerich & Payne in a research report on Wednesday, January 15th. Royal Bank of Canada dropped their target price on shares of Helmerich & Payne from $41.00 to $35.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, February 7th. Barclays dropped their target price on shares of 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. Finally, Argus raised shares of Helmerich & Payne to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 11th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $37.25.

Helmerich & Payne Trading Up 4.4 %

NYSE:HP opened at $25.92 on Friday. Helmerich & Payne, Inc. has a 12 month low of $23.80 and a 12 month high of $44.11. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.58 billion, a PE ratio of 8.53, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.52 and a beta of 1.42. The company has a current ratio of 2.81, a quick ratio of 2.52 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.60. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $29.87 and its 200 day moving average is $32.05.

Helmerich & Payne (NYSE:HP) last released 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 net margin of 11.02% and a return on equity of 11.31%. Sell-side analysts expect that Helmerich & Payne, Inc. will post 2.93 earnings per share for the current year.

Helmerich & Payne Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 30th. Investors of record on Thursday, May 15th will be paid a $0.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 15th. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.86%. Helmerich & Payne’s dividend payout ratio is 32.89%.

Insider Activity at Helmerich & Payne

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

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.