Mark W. Smith Sells 16,000 Shares of Helmerich & Payne, Inc. (NYSE:HP) Stock

Helmerich & Payne, Inc. (NYSE:HP) CFO Mark W. Smith sold 16,000 shares of Helmerich & Payne stock in a transaction on Monday, April 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $40.49, for a total transaction of $647,840.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 144,870 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,865,786.30. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink.

Helmerich & Payne Trading Down 3.7 %

HP traded down $1.49 during trading on Tuesday, hitting $39.33. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 1,158,803 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,310,505. Helmerich & Payne, Inc. has a twelve month low of $30.41 and a twelve month high of $46.55. The stock has a market cap of $3.88 billion, a PE ratio of 11.24, a PEG ratio of 1.93 and a beta of 1.51. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $40.78 and its 200-day moving average price is $38.65. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.19, a current ratio of 2.16 and a quick ratio of 1.92.

Helmerich & Payne (NYSE:HP) last released its earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The oil and gas company reported $0.84 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.85 by ($0.01). The company had revenue of $687.94 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $682.51 million. Helmerich & Payne had a net margin of 12.84% and a return on equity of 13.21%. Helmerich & Payne’s revenue for the quarter was down 10.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.26 earnings per share. On average, analysts expect that Helmerich & Payne, Inc. will post 3.59 earnings per share for the current year.

Helmerich & Payne Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 31st. Investors of record on Friday, May 17th will be issued a dividend of $0.42 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 16th. This represents a $1.68 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.27%. Helmerich & Payne’s payout ratio is 28.57%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Hexagon Capital Partners LLC raised its holdings in Helmerich & Payne by 514.4% in the first quarter. Hexagon Capital Partners LLC now owns 940 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $40,000 after acquiring an additional 787 shares in the last quarter. Principal Securities Inc. bought a new position in shares of Helmerich & Payne during the fourth quarter worth about $35,000. Creekmur Asset Management LLC bought a new position in Helmerich & Payne during the 4th quarter worth approximately $60,000. Lindbrook Capital LLC grew its position in shares of Helmerich & Payne by 26.4% in the 1st quarter. Lindbrook Capital LLC now owns 1,698 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $71,000 after acquiring an additional 355 shares in the last quarter. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC bought a new stake in Helmerich & Payne during the fourth quarter valued at $73,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 96.05% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on HP. Barclays lowered Helmerich & Payne from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and cut their target price for the stock from $44.00 to $40.00 in a research report on Wednesday, January 10th. The Goldman Sachs Group cut their target price on Helmerich & Payne from $37.00 to $33.00 and set a “sell” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, January 12th. Benchmark restated a “hold” rating on shares of Helmerich & Payne in a research note on Thursday, April 25th. Susquehanna reduced their price objective on Helmerich & Payne from $52.00 to $50.00 and set a “positive” rating for the company in a research note on Friday. Finally, Piper Sandler raised their target price on shares of Helmerich & Payne from $41.00 to $44.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 20th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $42.63.

Helmerich & Payne Company 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.