Bank of Montreal Can Acquires 131,843 Shares of Precision Drilling Co. (NYSE:PDS)

Bank of Montreal Can grew its stake in Precision Drilling Co. (NYSE:PDS - Free Report) TSE: PD by 28.0% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 602,954 shares of the oil and gas company's stock after purchasing an additional 131,843 shares during the quarter. Bank of Montreal Can owned about 4.38% of Precision Drilling worth $36,832,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in PDS. Russell Investments Group Ltd. lifted its stake in Precision Drilling by 246.5% in the fourth quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 6,373 shares of the oil and gas company's stock valued at $390,000 after buying an additional 4,534 shares during the period. Grantham Mayo Van Otterloo & Co. LLC increased its stake in shares of Precision Drilling by 190.0% in the 4th quarter. Grantham Mayo Van Otterloo & Co. LLC now owns 81,500 shares of the oil and gas company's stock valued at $4,982,000 after acquiring an additional 53,400 shares during the last quarter. Trexquant Investment LP raised its position in shares of Precision Drilling by 36.0% in the 4th quarter. Trexquant Investment LP now owns 18,213 shares of the oil and gas company's stock valued at $1,112,000 after acquiring an additional 4,824 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in Precision Drilling by 6.1% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 7,285 shares of the oil and gas company's stock worth $450,000 after acquiring an additional 418 shares during the last quarter. Finally, National Bank of Canada FI grew its holdings in Precision Drilling by 0.5% during the fourth quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 729,626 shares of the oil and gas company's stock valued at $44,673,000 after purchasing an additional 3,342 shares during the period. 48.86% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have weighed in on PDS. TD Securities lowered shares of Precision Drilling from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Monday, February 3rd. Raymond James lowered Precision Drilling from a "strong-buy" rating to an "outperform" rating in a report on Wednesday, April 9th. Finally, StockNews.com cut Precision Drilling from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Monday, March 24th.

Precision Drilling Stock Up 2.0 %

Shares of Precision Drilling stock traded up $0.84 on Wednesday, hitting $42.93. The company had a trading volume of 45,327 shares, compared to its average volume of 131,876. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $47.42 and a 200-day moving average of $56.70. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.48, a current ratio of 1.48 and a quick ratio of 1.35. Precision Drilling Co. has a twelve month low of $36.20 and a twelve month high of $79.07. The firm has a market capitalization of $581.55 million, a P/E ratio of 7.98 and a beta of 1.53.

Precision Drilling (NYSE:PDS - Get Free Report) TSE: PD last announced its earnings results 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%. Research analysts predict that Precision Drilling Co. will post 7.1 earnings per share for the current year.

Precision Drilling Company Profile

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.