Kiltearn Partners LLP Trims Stock Holdings in NOV Inc. $NOV

Kiltearn Partners LLP lessened its holdings in NOV Inc. (NYSE:NOV) by 7.5% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 478,100 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock after selling 38,600 shares during the quarter. NOV makes up 1.3% of Kiltearn Partners LLP’s holdings, making the stock its 25th largest holding. Kiltearn Partners LLP owned about 0.13% of NOV worth $6,335,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Natixis Advisors LLC bought a new position in NOV in the third quarter worth approximately $478,000. First Trust Advisors LP lifted its position in shares of NOV by 15.1% in the 3rd quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 7,008,337 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock worth $92,860,000 after purchasing an additional 917,242 shares during the period. Barclays PLC raised its stake in NOV by 22.0% in the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 648,817 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock worth $8,597,000 after buying an additional 116,825 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its position in shares of NOV by 0.9% in the 3rd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 18,578,053 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock worth $246,159,000 after acquiring an additional 161,414 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Victory Capital Management Inc. grew its stake in NOV by 48.1% in the third quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 441,712 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock valued at $5,853,000 after purchasing an additional 143,507 shares during the last quarter. 93.27% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, VP Craig L. Weinstock sold 70,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $20.08, for a total value of $1,405,600.00. Following the transaction, the vice president directly owned 256,319 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,146,885.52. This trade represents a 21.45% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Joseph W. Rovig sold 151,086 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, February 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $20.17, for a total value of $3,047,404.62. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 269,694 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,439,727.98. This represents a 35.91% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Corporate insiders own 1.85% of the company’s stock.

NOV Price Performance

Shares of NYSE NOV opened at $18.58 on Monday. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $18.48 and its 200-day simple moving average is $15.75. NOV Inc. has a 12 month low of $10.84 and a 12 month high of $20.85. The stock has a market capitalization of $6.70 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 48.90 and a beta of 0.89. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27, a current ratio of 2.42 and a quick ratio of 1.67.

NOV (NYSE:NOV) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 5th. 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 net margin of 1.66% and a return on equity of 3.57%. The firm had revenue of $2.28 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.17 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.41 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 1.3% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts expect that NOV Inc. will post 1.4 EPS for the current year.

NOV Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 27th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 13th will be given a dividend of $0.09 per share. This is a positive change from NOV’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.08. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 13th. This represents a $0.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.9%. NOV’s payout ratio is 78.95%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on NOV shares. Evercore set a $19.00 target price on shares of NOV in a research report on Friday, February 6th. Citigroup boosted their price target on NOV from $17.00 to $20.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 11th. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price target on shares of NOV from $17.00 to $20.00 and gave the company a “sell” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 4th. BMO Capital Markets increased their price objective on NOV from $19.00 to $20.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Monday, February 9th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c)” rating on shares of NOV in a research report on Monday, December 29th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, nine have issued a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, NOV presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $18.57.

NOV 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.