FIL Ltd Decreases Stock Holdings in Precision Drilling Co. (NYSE:PDS)

FIL Ltd lowered its holdings in shares of Precision Drilling Co. (NYSE:PDS - Free Report) TSE: PD by 43.3% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 233,189 shares of the oil and gas company's stock after selling 178,117 shares during the quarter. FIL Ltd owned 1.69% of Precision Drilling worth $14,263,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in PDS. Bank of Montreal Can increased its stake in Precision Drilling by 28.0% during the fourth 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 last quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. boosted its stake in Precision Drilling by 246.5% during the fourth quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 6,373 shares of the oil and gas company's stock worth $390,000 after buying an additional 4,534 shares during the period. Grantham Mayo Van Otterloo & Co. LLC raised its stake in shares of Precision Drilling by 190.0% in the fourth 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 period. Trexquant Investment LP lifted its holdings 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 worth $1,112,000 after acquiring an additional 4,824 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings 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 valued at $450,000 after purchasing an additional 418 shares during the last quarter. 48.86% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

PDS has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. TD Securities cut shares of Precision Drilling from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Monday, February 3rd. StockNews.com cut shares of Precision Drilling from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Monday, March 24th. Finally, Raymond James lowered shares of Precision Drilling from a "strong-buy" rating to an "outperform" rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 9th.

Precision Drilling Stock Performance

Shares of PDS stock traded up $1.76 during mid-day trading on Thursday, reaching $43.91. The stock had a trading volume of 40,406 shares, compared to its average volume of 82,684. The company has a current ratio of 1.48, a quick ratio of 1.35 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.48. Precision Drilling Co. has a 1-year low of $36.20 and a 1-year high of $79.07. The firm has a market cap of $594.84 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.14 and a beta of 1.53. The business's fifty day moving average is $47.14 and its 200-day moving average is $56.60.

Precision Drilling (NYSE:PDS - Get Free Report) TSE: PD last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The oil and gas company reported $0.76 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.40 by ($0.64). Precision Drilling had a net margin of 5.87% and a return on equity of 6.72%. On average, research analysts forecast that Precision Drilling Co. will post 7.1 earnings per share for the current year.

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.