Wall Street Zen Upgrades Precision Drilling (NYSE:PDS) to “Buy”

Precision Drilling (NYSE:PDS) (TSE:PD) was upgraded by research analysts at Wall Street Zen from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report issued on Saturday.

PDS has been the subject of several other reports. Piper Sandler reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $81.00 target price (up from $79.00) on shares of Precision Drilling in a research note on Thursday, December 18th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of Precision Drilling in a research note on Wednesday, January 28th. Zacks Research raised shares of Precision Drilling from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, January 30th. TD Securities restated a “hold” rating on shares of Precision Drilling in a research note on Thursday. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $124.00 target price (up from $119.00) on shares of Precision Drilling in a research note on Friday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have assigned a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Precision Drilling presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $102.50.

Precision Drilling Price Performance

NYSE:PDS opened at $87.42 on Friday. Precision Drilling has a 52-week low of $36.20 and a 52-week high of $91.99. The company has a market cap of $1.13 billion, a P/E ratio of -224.15 and a beta of 1.04. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.41, a quick ratio of 1.42 and a current ratio of 1.58. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $74.94 and its 200 day simple moving average is $63.50.

Precision Drilling (NYSE:PDS) (TSE:PD) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 11th. The oil and gas company reported $1.37 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.11 by $0.26. The firm had revenue of $349.37 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $489.80 million. Precision Drilling had a return on equity of 4.06% and a net margin of 0.05%. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Precision Drilling will post 7.1 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of PDS. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its holdings in Precision Drilling by 6.6% in the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 37,473 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $2,692,000 after acquiring an additional 2,333 shares during the period. SIR Capital Management L.P. grew its position in shares of Precision Drilling by 0.4% in the fourth quarter. SIR Capital Management L.P. now owns 56,178 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $4,031,000 after purchasing an additional 200 shares during the last quarter. Quadrant Capital Group LLC increased its stake in shares of Precision Drilling by 13.0% during the fourth quarter. Quadrant Capital Group LLC now owns 5,139 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $369,000 after purchasing an additional 592 shares during the period. Northwest & Ethical Investments L.P. increased its stake in shares of Precision Drilling by 28.1% during the fourth quarter. Northwest & Ethical Investments L.P. now owns 18,342 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $1,318,000 after purchasing an additional 4,029 shares during the period. Finally, Federation des caisses Desjardins du Quebec lifted its holdings in Precision Drilling by 50.0% during the 4th quarter. Federation des caisses Desjardins du Quebec now owns 39,339 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $2,756,000 after purchasing an additional 13,107 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 48.86% of the company’s stock.

About Precision Drilling

Precision Drilling Corporation (NYSE: PDS) is a Calgary, Alberta–based oilfield services company that has provided drilling solutions since its founding in 1951. With more than seven decades of industry experience, the company delivers contract drilling services, directional and horizontal drilling, well servicing, and a suite of specialized equipment designed to meet the evolving needs of exploration and production companies worldwide.

The company’s core business activities include operating a fleet of onshore drilling rigs, offering managed pressure drilling, measurement-while-drilling (MWD) and logging-while-drilling (LWD) services, and providing completion and workover rigs.