Traders Buy Large Volume of Put Options on Patterson-UTI Energy (NASDAQ:PTEN)

Patterson-UTI Energy, Inc. (NASDAQ:PTEN) saw some unusual options trading on Thursday. Investors bought 32,419 put options on the company. This is an increase of 240% compared to the typical volume of 9,545 put options.

Patterson-UTI Energy Price Performance

Patterson-UTI Energy stock traded down $0.31 during midday trading on Thursday, reaching $11.22. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 2,146,525 shares, compared to its average volume of 6,480,714. Patterson-UTI Energy has a 52 week low of $9.70 and a 52 week high of $16.17. The company has a current ratio of 1.41, a quick ratio of 1.24 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $11.75 and a 200-day moving average price of $11.61. The stock has a market cap of $4.52 billion, a PE ratio of 11.42, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.68 and a beta of 2.21.

Patterson-UTI Energy (NASDAQ:PTEN) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, February 14th. The oil and gas company reported $0.19 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.18 by $0.01. Patterson-UTI Energy had a return on equity of 10.00% and a net margin of 5.94%. The firm had revenue of $1.58 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.50 billion. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Patterson-UTI Energy will post 0.6 EPS for the current year.

Patterson-UTI Energy Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 15th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 1st were paid a dividend of $0.08 per share. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.85%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, February 29th. Patterson-UTI Energy’s payout ratio is 31.68%.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Robert Wayne Drummond, Jr. sold 187,916 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $11.73, for a total transaction of $2,204,254.68. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 2,473,239 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $29,011,093.47. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. 2.30% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Patterson-UTI Energy

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Patterson-UTI Energy by 4.3% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 45,041,600 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $486,449,000 after acquiring an additional 1,847,468 shares during the period. Blackstone Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Patterson-UTI Energy in the third quarter worth approximately $483,016,000. Cerberus Capital Management L.P. acquired a new position in shares of Patterson-UTI Energy in the third quarter worth approximately $188,486,000. FMR LLC lifted its stake in shares of Patterson-UTI Energy by 21,195.0% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 11,655,391 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $161,311,000 after acquiring an additional 11,600,658 shares during the period. Finally, Van ECK Associates Corp lifted its stake in shares of Patterson-UTI Energy by 6.5% in the fourth quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 8,505,551 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $91,860,000 after acquiring an additional 519,259 shares during the period. 97.91% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on the company. Royal Bank of Canada cut their price objective on Patterson-UTI Energy from $17.00 to $16.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, February 16th. StockNews.com downgraded Patterson-UTI Energy from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 2nd. Evercore ISI cut their price target on Patterson-UTI Energy from $19.00 to $18.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, February 20th. Raymond James lowered their price objective on Patterson-UTI Energy from $16.00 to $15.00 and set a “strong-buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, February 16th. Finally, Benchmark cut Patterson-UTI Energy from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 16th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $16.17.

About Patterson-UTI Energy

Patterson-UTI Energy, Inc, through its subsidiaries, engages in the provision of contract drilling services to oil and natural gas operators in the United States and internationally. It operates through three segments: Drilling Services, Completion Services, and Drilling Products. The Contract Drilling Services segment provides contract and directional drilling services in onshore oil and natural gas basins, as well as engages in the service and re-certification of equipment for drilling contractors, and provision of electrical controls and automation to the energy, marine and mining industries.