Smart Money Is Fleeing Patterson-UTI Energy, Inc. (PTEN)

Is Patterson-UTI Energy, Inc. (NASDAQ:PTEN) a good stock to buy right now? We at Insider Monkey like to examine what billionaires and hedge funds think of a company before doing days of research on it. Given their 2-and-20 payment structure, hedge funds have more resources than the average investor. The funds have access to expert networks and get tips from industry insiders. They also have numerous Ivy League graduates and MBAs in their employ. Like everyone else, hedge funds perform miserably at times, but their consensus picks have historically outperformed the market after risk adjustments.

Is Patterson-UTI Energy, Inc. (NASDAQ:PTEN) a healthy stock for your portfolio? Investors who are in the know are in a pessimistic mood. The number of bullish hedge fund positions shrunk by 10 lately. Patterson-UTI Energy, Inc. was in 25 hedge funds’ portfolios at the end of September. There were 35 hedge funds in our database with Patterson-UTI Energy, Inc. positions at the end of the previous quarter. The level and the change in hedge fund popularity aren’t the only variables you need to analyze to decipher hedge funds’ perspectives. A stock may witness a boost in popularity but it may still be less popular than similarly priced stocks. That’s why at the end of this article we will examine companies such as Sterling Bancorp (NYSE:STL), Diebold Incorporated (NYSE:DBD), and Tootsie Roll Industries, Inc. (NYSE:TR) to gather more data points.

Today there are dozens of signals investors employ to value their stock investments. Two of the most innovative signals are hedge fund and insider trading moves. Our experts have shown that, historically, those who follow the best picks of the top money managers can trounce the S&P 500 by a significant margin (see the details here).

Now, let’s take a look at the key action encompassing Patterson-UTI Energy, Inc. (NASDAQ:PTEN).

What does the smart money think about Patterson-UTI Energy, Inc. (NASDAQ:PTEN)?

At the end of the third quarter, a total of 25 of the hedge funds tracked by Insider Monkey were long this stock, a 29% drop-off from the second quarter. With hedgies’ sentiment swirling, there exists a few key hedge fund managers who were boosting their holdings significantly (or had already accumulated large positions).

According to Insider Monkey’s hedge fund database, Ken Griffin’s Citadel Investment Group has the largest position in Patterson-UTI Energy, Inc. (NASDAQ:PTEN), worth close to $58.4 million, comprising 0.1% of its total 13F portfolio. The second-most bullish investor is First Pacific Advisors LLC, led by Robert Rodriguez and Steven Romick, holding a $52.2 million position; the fund has 0.4% of its 13F portfolio invested in the stock. Other hedge funds and institutional investors that are bullish include Curtis Macnguyen’s Ivory Capital (Investment Mgmt), Israel Englander’s Millennium Management, and Anand Parekh’s Alyeska Investment Group.