Heartland Advisors Inc. Trims Stock Holdings in NOV Inc. $NOV

Heartland Advisors Inc. lowered its position in shares of NOV Inc. (NYSE:NOV) by 3.2% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 1,089,190 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock after selling 35,890 shares during the quarter. NOV comprises about 0.9% of Heartland Advisors Inc.’s portfolio, making the stock its 24th largest position. Heartland Advisors Inc.’s holdings in NOV were worth $17,024,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of NOV. Royal Bank of Canada raised its position in NOV by 15.6% during the 1st quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 49,721 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock worth $756,000 after buying an additional 6,711 shares during the last quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. boosted its holdings in shares of NOV by 35.5% in the 1st quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 161,927 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock valued at $2,465,000 after acquiring an additional 42,462 shares during the last quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC increased its stake in shares of NOV by 17.4% in the first quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 1,062,292 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock worth $16,168,000 after acquiring an additional 157,385 shares during the period. Focus Partners Wealth purchased a new position in shares of NOV during the first quarter worth $214,000. Finally, Cetera Investment Advisers acquired a new position in NOV during the second quarter valued at $190,000. 93.27% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

NOV Stock Up 1.3%

NOV opened at $21.09 on Thursday. The company has a fifty day moving average of $20.07 and a two-hundred day moving average of $18.58. The stock has a market capitalization of $7.57 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 87.87 and a beta of 0.89. NOV Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $11.77 and a fifty-two week high of $21.55. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27, a quick ratio of 1.66 and a current ratio of 2.47.

NOV (NYSE:NOV) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, April 28th. The oil and gas exploration company reported $0.05 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.17 by ($0.12). NOV had a net margin of 1.05% and a return on equity of 3.34%. The business had revenue of $2.05 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.05 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $0.19 earnings per share. NOV’s revenue was down 2.4% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts expect that NOV Inc. will post 0.91 earnings per share for the current year.

NOV Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a special dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 26th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 12th will be issued a $0.09 dividend. This represents a yield of 180.0%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 12th. NOV’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 150.00%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have weighed in on the company. The Goldman Sachs Group set a $19.00 price target on NOV in a research report on Wednesday, June 3rd. Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c)” rating on shares of NOV in a report on Friday, March 27th. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on NOV from $18.00 to $20.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 15th. TD Cowen upgraded NOV from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 29th. Finally, Evercore raised NOV to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 29th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have issued a Buy rating, ten have issued a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $20.43.

NOV Company Profile

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.