Short Interest in Precision Drilling Co. (NYSE:PDS) Increases By 21.0%

Precision Drilling Co. (NYSE:PDS) (TSE:PD) was the target of a large increase in short interest in February. As of February 15th, there was short interest totalling 226,700 shares, an increase of 21.0% from the January 31st total of 187,400 shares. Approximately 1.7% of the shares of the stock are short sold. Based on an average daily volume of 82,100 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 2.8 days.

Institutional Trading of Precision Drilling

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. National Bank of Canada FI grew its stake in Precision Drilling by 0.5% in the 4th quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 729,626 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $44,673,000 after acquiring an additional 3,342 shares during the period. Bank of Montreal Can grew its stake in Precision Drilling by 28.0% in the 4th quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 602,954 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $36,832,000 after acquiring an additional 131,843 shares during the period. Bank of America Corp DE grew its stake in Precision Drilling by 33.3% in the 4th quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 396,072 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $24,188,000 after acquiring an additional 98,836 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its stake in Precision Drilling by 12.6% in the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 265,254 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $16,198,000 after acquiring an additional 29,612 shares during the period. Finally, Millennium Management LLC grew its stake in Precision Drilling by 235.8% in the 4th quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 157,433 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $9,621,000 after acquiring an additional 110,546 shares during the period. 48.86% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Precision Drilling Trading Down 0.0 %

Shares of PDS opened at $46.43 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.48, a current ratio of 1.48 and a quick ratio of 1.35. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $58.32 and a 200-day simple moving average of $61.54. Precision Drilling has a 1-year low of $43.63 and a 1-year high of $79.07. The stock has a market cap of $636.46 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.63 and a beta of 2.05.

Precision Drilling (NYSE:PDS) (TSE:PD) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 12th. The oil and gas company reported $0.76 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.40 by ($0.64). Precision Drilling had a return on equity of 6.72% and a net margin of 5.87%. Equities analysts forecast that Precision Drilling will post 7.1 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

PDS has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. TD Securities cut shares of Precision Drilling from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. StockNews.com cut shares of Precision Drilling from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday.

About Precision Drilling

Precision Drilling Corporation, a drilling company, provides onshore drilling, completion, and production services to exploration and production companies in the oil and natural gas and geothermal industries in North America and the Middle East. The company operates through Contract Drilling Services and Completion and Production Services segments.