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

Patterson-UTI Energy, Inc. (NASDAQ:PTEN) saw some unusual options trading activity on Monday. Stock traders acquired 57,700 put options on the company. This represents an increase of 506% compared to the typical volume of 9,519 put options.

Patterson-UTI Energy Stock Down 0.5 %

PTEN opened at $10.31 on Wednesday. The company has a 50 day moving average of $10.75 and a 200 day moving average of $11.05. The company has a market cap of $4.14 billion, a PE ratio of 15.16 and a beta of 2.18. Patterson-UTI Energy has a 12 month low of $9.68 and a 12 month high of $16.17. The company has a current ratio of 1.48, a quick ratio of 1.28 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26.

Patterson-UTI Energy (NASDAQ:PTEN) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 1st. The oil and gas company reported $0.15 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.13 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $1.51 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.51 billion. Patterson-UTI Energy had a net margin of 4.07% and a return on equity of 7.13%. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.46 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Patterson-UTI Energy will post 0.55 EPS for the current year.

Patterson-UTI Energy Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 17th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 3rd were given a dividend of $0.08 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 3rd. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.10%. Patterson-UTI Energy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 47.06%.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Robert Wayne Drummond, Jr. sold 150,000 shares of Patterson-UTI Energy stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $11.55, for a total value of $1,732,500.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 2,007,895 shares in the company, valued at $23,191,187.25. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. 2.30% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. HighTower Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Patterson-UTI Energy by 564.3% during the 3rd quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC now owns 67,876 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $935,000 after acquiring an additional 57,659 shares during the last quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Patterson-UTI Energy by 273.9% during the 3rd quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 60,163 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $833,000 after acquiring an additional 44,072 shares during the last quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale bought a new stake in Patterson-UTI Energy in the third quarter worth $98,000. Kestra Advisory Services LLC bought a new stake in Patterson-UTI Energy in the third quarter worth $500,000. Finally, FMR LLC lifted its stake in 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 purchasing an additional 11,600,658 shares during the last quarter. 97.91% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

PTEN has been the topic of several analyst reports. Piper Sandler reduced their price objective on shares of Patterson-UTI Energy from $17.00 to $14.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, May 6th. Bank of America reduced their price objective on shares of Patterson-UTI Energy from $14.50 to $14.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, April 15th. Evercore ISI reduced their price objective on shares of Patterson-UTI Energy from $18.00 to $17.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, May 3rd. Benchmark reaffirmed a “hold” rating on shares of Patterson-UTI Energy in a research report on Monday, May 6th. Finally, Susquehanna reaffirmed a “positive” rating and set a $16.00 price target on shares of Patterson-UTI Energy in a research report on Monday, April 8th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $15.67.

Patterson-UTI Energy Company Profile

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.