Earnest Partners LLC Acquires 77,429 Shares of NOV Inc. $NOV

Earnest Partners LLC boosted its holdings in NOV Inc. (NYSE:NOV) by 1.9% in the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 4,106,951 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock after buying an additional 77,429 shares during the period. Earnest Partners LLC owned approximately 1.13% of NOV worth $54,417,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. CoreFirst Bank & Trust bought a new position in shares of NOV in the second quarter worth $35,000. UMB Bank n.a. lifted its holdings in NOV by 114.1% during the 3rd quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 3,109 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock worth $41,000 after purchasing an additional 1,657 shares in the last quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp boosted its stake in NOV by 88.4% in the 3rd quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 5,083 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock worth $67,000 after purchasing an additional 2,385 shares during the period. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. grew its holdings in NOV by 33.6% during the 2nd quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 6,595 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock valued at $82,000 after buying an additional 1,658 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. grew its holdings in NOV by 25.3% during the 3rd quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 6,738 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock valued at $89,000 after buying an additional 1,359 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 93.27% of the company’s stock.

NOV Stock Down 1.5%

NOV opened at $18.44 on Monday. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $18.77 and its 200 day simple moving average is $15.96. NOV Inc. has a 52 week low of $10.84 and a 52 week high of $20.85. 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 stock has a market cap of $6.64 billion, a PE ratio of 48.51 and a beta of 0.89.

NOV (NYSE:NOV) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 5th. The oil and gas exploration company reported $0.02 earnings per share (EPS) 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 firm had revenue of $2.28 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.17 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.41 earnings per share. NOV’s revenue for the quarter was down 1.3% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts expect that NOV Inc. will post 1.4 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

NOV Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 27th. Investors of record on Friday, March 13th will be given a $0.09 dividend. This represents a $0.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.0%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 13th. This is a positive change from NOV’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.08. NOV’s dividend payout ratio is presently 94.74%.

Insider Activity at NOV

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on NOV shares. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price target on shares of NOV from $17.00 to $20.00 and gave the stock a “sell” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 4th. Royal Bank Of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $21.00 target price on shares of NOV in a report on Thursday, January 15th. BMO Capital Markets increased their target price on shares of NOV from $19.00 to $20.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Monday, February 9th. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of NOV in a research report on Monday, December 29th. Finally, Morgan Stanley set a $16.00 price target on shares of NOV in a report on Monday, December 15th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, ten have assigned a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, NOV presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $18.57.

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.