Principal Financial Group Inc. Reduces Stake in Helmerich & Payne, Inc. (NYSE:HP)

Principal Financial Group Inc. lowered its position in Helmerich & Payne, Inc. (NYSE:HP - Free Report) by 9.4% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 465,413 shares of the oil and gas company's stock after selling 48,247 shares during the quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. owned about 0.47% of Helmerich & Payne worth $14,158,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Franklin Resources Inc. grew its position in Helmerich & Payne by 0.4% during the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 157,568 shares of the oil and gas company's stock worth $4,793,000 after buying an additional 666 shares in the last quarter. Tidal Investments LLC grew its holdings in shares of Helmerich & Payne by 66.4% during the third quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 70,402 shares of the oil and gas company's stock worth $2,142,000 after purchasing an additional 28,101 shares in the last quarter. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB bought a new position in shares of Helmerich & Payne in the third quarter worth approximately $452,000. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in Helmerich & Payne by 1.0% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,247,214 shares of the oil and gas company's stock valued at $68,373,000 after purchasing an additional 22,875 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Barclays PLC lifted its position in Helmerich & Payne by 320.2% during the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 198,415 shares of the oil and gas company's stock valued at $6,035,000 after purchasing an additional 151,196 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 96.05% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have recently commented on HP. Citigroup decreased their price target on shares of Helmerich & Payne from $41.00 to $33.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a report on Friday, September 13th. Royal Bank of Canada cut their target price on shares of Helmerich & Payne from $44.00 to $41.00 and set a "sector perform" rating for the company in a research report on Friday, November 15th. Benchmark restated a "hold" rating on shares of Helmerich & Payne in a research report on Thursday, November 21st. Finally, Barclays cut their price objective on Helmerich & Payne from $39.00 to $36.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, November 20th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating, two have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Helmerich & Payne currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $38.57.

Helmerich & Payne Trading Down 0.4 %

Shares of NYSE:HP traded down $0.13 on Friday, reaching $30.76. 826,032 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,390,258. Helmerich & Payne, Inc. has a 52 week low of $29.46 and a 52 week high of $44.11. The company has a current ratio of 2.67, a quick ratio of 2.40 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61. The business's 50-day simple moving average is $33.86 and its 200 day simple moving average is $34.27. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.04 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.94, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.21 and a beta of 1.39.

Helmerich & Payne (NYSE:HP - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, November 13th. The oil and gas company reported $0.76 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $0.76. Helmerich & Payne had a return on equity of 12.44% and a net margin of 12.48%. The business had revenue of $693.79 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $695.99 million. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.69 EPS. Helmerich & Payne's revenue for the quarter was up 5.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Helmerich & Payne, Inc. will post 3.12 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Helmerich & Payne Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 28th. Investors of record on Friday, February 14th will be issued a dividend of $0.25 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 14th. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.25%. Helmerich & Payne's dividend payout ratio is currently 29.07%.

About Helmerich & Payne

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.