DNOW (NYSE:DNOW) Sets New 12-Month Low on Analyst Downgrade

DNOW Inc. (NYSE:DNOW) shares hit a new 52-week low during mid-day trading on Tuesday after Zacks Research downgraded the stock from a strong-buy rating to a hold rating. The company traded as low as $11.74 and last traded at $11.8450, with a volume of 14209137 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at $13.23.

Several other equities analysts have also weighed in on the stock. Susquehanna upgraded shares of DNOW from a “neutral” rating to a “positive” rating and set a $16.00 price objective on the stock in a report on Friday, November 21st. KeyCorp set a $19.00 target price on DNOW in a research report on Thursday, December 18th. Wall Street Zen upgraded DNOW from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Saturday, February 14th. Stifel Nicolaus reduced their price objective on DNOW from $18.00 to $16.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Monday. Finally, Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c)” rating on shares of DNOW in a research report on Monday, December 29th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, DNOW presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $17.00.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On DNOW

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in DNOW. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of DNOW by 66.1% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 19,498,204 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $258,351,000 after acquiring an additional 7,762,071 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its stake in shares of DNOW by 187.2% during the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 10,813,205 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $143,275,000 after purchasing an additional 7,048,382 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its holdings in DNOW by 60.8% during the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 10,374,585 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $137,466,000 after buying an additional 3,920,731 shares during the last quarter. Boston Partners raised its holdings in shares of DNOW by 66.0% in the 4th quarter. Boston Partners now owns 7,859,416 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $104,171,000 after purchasing an additional 3,124,280 shares during the period. Finally, State Street Corp raised its stake in shares of DNOW by 81.8% in the fourth quarter. State Street Corp now owns 7,440,738 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $98,590,000 after buying an additional 3,347,335 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 97.63% of the company’s stock.

DNOW Stock Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18, a current ratio of 2.34 and a quick ratio of 1.11. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $14.45 and a 200-day simple moving average of $14.56. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.22 billion, a P/E ratio of -40.22 and a beta of 0.79.

DNOW (NYSE:DNOW) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Friday, February 20th. The oil and gas company reported $0.15 earnings per share for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $0.15. The company had revenue of $959.00 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $969.50 million. DNOW had a positive return on equity of 7.26% and a negative net margin of 2.66%.The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 68.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.25 EPS. On average, equities analysts forecast that DNOW Inc. will post 0.86 EPS for the current year.

About DNOW

DistributionNOW (NYSE: DNOW) is a global distributor of energy and industrial products, serving a broad range of end-markets including oil and gas, petrochemical, power generation, and industrial manufacturing. Headquartered in Houston, Texas, the company provides solutions across the life cycle of energy and industrial assets, with an emphasis on safety, reliability and operational efficiency.

The company’s core product portfolio includes piping systems and related components (such as valves, fittings, flanges and gaskets), instrumentation, electrical and automation equipment, fasteners, industrial safety supplies, chemicals and composite products.