Morgan Stanley Forecasts Strong Price Appreciation for Patterson-UTI Energy (NASDAQ:PTEN) Stock

Patterson-UTI Energy (NASDAQ:PTEN) had its price objective lifted by analysts at Morgan Stanley from $12.00 to $13.00 in a research report issued to clients and investors on Monday, Benzinga reports. The firm currently has an “equal weight” rating on the oil and gas company’s stock. Morgan Stanley‘s price target would suggest a potential upside of 5.20% from the company’s previous close.

A number of other equities analysts have also commented on PTEN. Citigroup dropped their price target on shares of Patterson-UTI Energy from $13.50 to $12.50 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, October 2nd. Susquehanna upped their price objective on shares of Patterson-UTI Energy from $13.00 to $15.00 and gave the stock a “positive” rating in a report on Friday. Piper Sandler reiterated an “overweight” rating on shares of Patterson-UTI Energy in a research note on Friday, August 21st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded shares of Patterson-UTI Energy from an “underweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $12.00 target price on the stock in a report on Friday, July 31st. Finally, UBS Group boosted their target price on shares of Patterson-UTI Energy from $13.00 to $13.50 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and six have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $13.91.

Patterson-UTI Energy Stock Down 7.2%

NASDAQ PTEN traded down $0.96 during trading on Monday, hitting $12.36. 3,959,122 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 9,446,011. Patterson-UTI Energy has a 12 month low of $5.24 and a 12 month high of $13.39. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $11.89 and a 200 day simple moving average of $10.52. The company has a current ratio of 1.73, a quick ratio of 1.57 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.40. The company has a market capitalization of $4.71 billion, a P/E ratio of -206.08 and a beta of 0.79.

Patterson-UTI Energy (NASDAQ:PTEN) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 28th. The oil and gas company reported $0.07 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.04 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $1.34 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.31 billion. Patterson-UTI Energy had a negative return on equity of 0.58% and a negative net margin of 0.52%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 14.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned ($0.10) earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Patterson-UTI Energy will post 0.01 EPS for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director James Stewart sold 207,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $11.54, for a total value of $2,388,780.00. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO William Hendricks, Jr. sold 250,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, September 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $11.91, for a total transaction of $2,977,500.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 2,042,474 shares in the company, valued at approximately $24,325,865.34. The trade was a 10.91% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders sold a total of 1,027,000 shares of company stock valued at $12,698,780 over the last ninety days. 2.20% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Engineers Gate Manager LP raised its holdings in shares of Patterson-UTI Energy by 1,002.2% in the second quarter. Engineers Gate Manager LP now owns 461,819 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $4,239,000 after buying an additional 419,919 shares during the last quarter. Convergence Investment Partners LLC acquired a new position in Patterson-UTI Energy during the 1st quarter worth about $1,325,000. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company acquired a new position in Patterson-UTI Energy during the 2nd quarter worth about $2,675,000. Quantinno Capital Management LP grew its holdings in Patterson-UTI Energy by 163.5% during the 1st quarter. Quantinno Capital Management LP now owns 503,916 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $5,457,000 after acquiring an additional 312,680 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Hsbc Holdings PLC grew its holdings in Patterson-UTI Energy by 90.2% during the 2nd quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC now owns 172,117 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $1,588,000 after acquiring an additional 81,640 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 97.91% of the company’s stock.

About Patterson-UTI Energy

Patterson-UTI Energy, Inc is an oilfield services company that provides drilling, completion and production-related services to oil and natural gas exploration and production companies. Its operations are primarily focused on onshore oil and gas development in the United States.

The company provides contract land drilling services through a fleet of rigs, as well as directional drilling and related technologies used to guide wellbores. Patterson-UTI also offers pressure pumping and hydraulic fracturing, wireline, well-completion, equipment rental and other services that support the development and maintenance of unconventional wells.

Patterson-UTI expanded its completion-services business through its 2023 merger with NexTier Oilfield Solutions.