NOV Inc. (NYSE:NOV) Receives $18.40 Consensus Price Target from Brokerages

Shares of NOV Inc. (NYSE:NOV) have been assigned a consensus recommendation of “Hold” from the seventeen ratings firms that are currently covering the firm, MarketBeat.com reports. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company. The average 1 year target price among brokers that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $18.3571.

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on NOV shares. Piper Sandler lifted their price target on shares of NOV from $17.00 to $18.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, February 9th. The Goldman Sachs Group reaffirmed a “sell” rating and issued a $17.00 target price on shares of NOV in a research note on Wednesday, January 14th. TD Cowen reissued a “buy” rating on shares of NOV in a research note on Friday, February 6th. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price objective on NOV from $19.00 to $21.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 6th. Finally, Evercore set a $19.00 target price on NOV in a research report on Friday, February 6th.

NOV Trading Down 0.6%

Shares of NOV stock opened at $19.08 on Friday. NOV has a fifty-two week low of $10.84 and a fifty-two week high of $19.60. The company has a quick ratio of 1.67, a current ratio of 2.42 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $17.43 and a 200-day simple moving average of $15.04. The stock has a market cap of $6.88 billion, a P/E ratio of 50.21 and a beta of 0.93.

NOV (NYSE:NOV) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 4th. The oil and gas exploration company reported $0.02 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.25 by ($0.23). The company had revenue of $2.28 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.17 billion. NOV had a return on equity of 3.57% and a net margin of 1.66%.The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 1.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.41 earnings per share. On average, analysts forecast that NOV will post 1.4 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

NOV Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 19th. Investors of record on Friday, December 5th were given a $0.075 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, December 5th. This represents a $0.30 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.6%. NOV’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 78.95%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Christian S. Kendall acquired 70,000 shares of NOV stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 21st. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $14.46 per share, with a total value of $1,012,200.00. Following the purchase, the director directly owned 85,949 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,242,822.54. This trade represents a 438.90% increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Company insiders own 1.85% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On NOV

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Caisse de depot et placement du Quebec acquired a new position in shares of NOV during the 4th quarter valued at $618,000. AQR Capital Management LLC raised its position in NOV by 29.1% in the fourth quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 4,668,127 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock valued at $72,963,000 after purchasing an additional 1,053,354 shares during the period. Quantedge Capital Pte Ltd acquired a new position in shares of NOV during the fourth quarter worth about $2,707,000. Kovack Advisors Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of NOV in the fourth quarter worth about $2,596,000. Finally, Amundi acquired a new stake in shares of NOV in the fourth quarter valued at about $242,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 93.27% of the company’s stock.

About NOV

National Oilwell Varco (NYSE: NOV) is a leading provider of equipment and technology to the oil and gas industry. The company designs, manufactures and services an extensive portfolio of products used in drilling, completion and production operations. Its offerings include drilling rigs and related components, wellbore technologies such as tubulars and completion tools, surface equipment including mud pumps and blowout preventers, and aftermarket parts and services that support ongoing field operations.

NOV’s business is organized to serve upstream energy companies around the world.