Precision Drilling (NYSE:PDS) Stock Price Up 5% – Should You Buy?

Precision Drilling Corporation (NYSE:PDS) (TSE:PD)’s stock price was up 5% during trading on Friday. The stock traded as high as $93.11 and last traded at $94.9930. 4,513 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 96% from the average session volume of 115,876 shares. The stock had previously closed at $90.43.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages recently commented on PDS. Wall Street Zen cut Precision Drilling from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Sunday, August 9th. Zacks Research raised Precision Drilling from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, September 28th. TD Securities raised shares of Precision Drilling from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $116.00 to $150.00 in a report on Tuesday. Finally, Weiss Ratings reissued a “sell (d+)” rating on shares of Precision Drilling in a research note on Friday, September 18th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have issued a Buy rating, one has given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Precision Drilling currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $129.25.

Precision Drilling Price Performance

The company has a 50 day moving average price of $87.04 and a 200 day moving average price of $87.14. The company has a market capitalization of $1.21 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -45.85 and a beta of 0.95. The company has a current ratio of 1.46, a quick ratio of 1.29 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39.

Precision Drilling (NYSE:PDS) (TSE:PD) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, July 28th. The oil and gas company reported ($0.38) earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.43 by ($0.81). Precision Drilling had a positive return on equity of 2.11% and a negative net margin of 1.68%. The firm had revenue of $319.15 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $310.70 million. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Precision Drilling Corporation will post 4.71 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Engineers Gate Manager LP boosted its holdings in Precision Drilling by 70.8% during the second quarter. Engineers Gate Manager LP now owns 31,802 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $2,438,000 after buying an additional 13,188 shares during the last quarter. TD Waterhouse Canada Inc. increased its stake in Precision Drilling by 21.2% during the 2nd quarter. TD Waterhouse Canada Inc. now owns 12,341 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $929,000 after purchasing an additional 2,155 shares in the last quarter. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio bought a new stake in Precision Drilling during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $557,000. Plato Investment Management Ltd acquired a new stake in Precision Drilling during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $190,000. Finally, Bank of America Corp DE raised its holdings in Precision Drilling by 129.5% during the 1st quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 114,706 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $11,287,000 after buying an additional 64,735 shares during the period. 48.86% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

About Precision Drilling

Precision Drilling Corporation is an oilfield services company headquartered in Calgary, Alberta. The company provides contract drilling and related services to oil and natural gas exploration and production companies, with operations serving customers primarily in Canada and the United States as well as selected international markets.

Its Contract Drilling Services segment operates land-based drilling rigs and provides associated equipment, personnel and technical expertise. Precision also offers directional drilling and other technologies designed to support the construction of complex horizontal and extended-reach wells.

Through its Completion and Production Services business, the company provides well servicing, snubbing, rental equipment, camp and catering services, and other support activities used during well completion, maintenance and production.