NOV (NYSE:NOV) Reaches New 12-Month High – Here’s What Happened

NOV Inc. (NYSE:NOV)’s share price reached a new 52-week high during mid-day trading on Wednesday . The stock traded as high as $19.67 and last traded at $19.7220, with a volume of 202117 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at $19.07.

Analyst Ratings Changes

NOV has been the subject of several analyst reports. Barclays raised shares of NOV from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and increased their price target for the company from $15.00 to $20.00 in a research note on Wednesday, February 4th. Evercore set a $19.00 price objective on NOV in a research report on Friday, February 6th. Stifel Nicolaus upped their price target on NOV from $19.00 to $21.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 6th. Morgan Stanley set a $16.00 price objective on NOV in a research report on Monday, December 15th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group reaffirmed a “sell” rating and issued a $17.00 target price on shares of NOV in a research report on Wednesday, January 14th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, nine have assigned a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $18.36.

NOV Stock Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27, a quick ratio of 1.67 and a current ratio of 2.42. The stock has a market capitalization of $7.21 billion, a PE ratio of 52.01 and a beta of 0.93. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $17.43 and its two-hundred day moving average is $15.04.

NOV (NYSE:NOV) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 4th. The oil and gas exploration company reported $0.02 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.25 by ($0.23). NOV had a return on equity of 3.57% and a net margin of 1.66%.The company had revenue of $2.28 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.17 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.41 EPS. The firm’s revenue was down 1.3% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts predict that NOV Inc. will post 1.4 earnings per share for the current year.

NOV Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 19th. Investors of record on Friday, December 5th were issued a $0.075 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, December 5th. This represents a $0.30 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.5%. NOV’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 78.95%.

Insider Buying and Selling at NOV

In other NOV news, Director Christian S. Kendall bought 70,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 21st. The shares were purchased at an average price of $14.46 per share, with a total value of $1,012,200.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director directly owned 85,949 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,242,822.54. This represents a 438.90% increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Insiders own 2.08% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On NOV

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in NOV. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its stake in NOV by 9.0% during the fourth quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 7,384 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock worth $115,000 after buying an additional 611 shares in the last quarter. Arizona State Retirement System lifted its holdings in shares of NOV by 0.6% during the 3rd quarter. Arizona State Retirement System now owns 111,185 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock worth $1,473,000 after acquiring an additional 678 shares during the period. Allworth Financial LP boosted its position in shares of NOV by 37.9% during the 4th quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 2,578 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock valued at $40,000 after acquiring an additional 709 shares in the last quarter. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio increased its stake in NOV by 0.6% in the third quarter. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio now owns 116,720 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock valued at $1,547,000 after acquiring an additional 724 shares during the period. Finally, Quadrant Capital Group LLC raised its position in NOV by 2.6% in the third quarter. Quadrant Capital Group LLC now owns 29,023 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock worth $385,000 after purchasing an additional 743 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors 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.