Brokerages Set NOV Inc. (NYSE:NOV) PT at $18.57

NOV Inc. (NYSE:NOV) has earned an average rating of “Hold” from the seventeen brokerages that are covering the company, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company. The average 1-year price objective among analysts that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $18.5714.

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on the company. Argus raised NOV to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 10th. Piper Sandler boosted their price objective on NOV from $17.00 to $18.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, February 9th. Susquehanna reissued a “positive” rating and set a $21.00 price objective on shares of NOV in a research report on Friday, February 6th. Citigroup boosted their price objective on NOV from $17.00 to $20.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 11th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets boosted their price objective on NOV from $19.00 to $20.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Monday, February 9th.

Insider Activity at NOV

In other news, VP Craig L. Weinstock sold 70,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 23rd. The stock was 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 owned 256,319 shares in the company, valued at $5,146,885.52. This represents a 21.45% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, insider Joseph W. Rovig sold 151,086 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $20.17, for a total value of $3,047,404.62. Following the sale, the insider owned 269,694 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,439,727.98. This trade represents a 35.91% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. 2.08% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On NOV

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Invesco Ltd. grew its holdings in NOV by 3.0% during the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 2,088,655 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock worth $32,646,000 after acquiring an additional 60,148 shares during the period. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV grew its holdings in NOV by 64.0% during the fourth quarter. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV now owns 47,164 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock worth $737,000 after acquiring an additional 18,404 shares during the period. XTX Topco Ltd acquired a new position in NOV during the fourth quarter worth $3,173,000. Numerai GP LLC grew its holdings in NOV by 30.7% during the fourth quarter. Numerai GP LLC now owns 15,366 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock worth $240,000 after acquiring an additional 3,607 shares during the period. Finally, Old West Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in NOV during the fourth quarter worth $865,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 93.27% of the company’s stock.

NOV Stock Performance

NYSE NOV opened at $18.82 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $6.78 billion, a P/E ratio of 49.51 and a beta of 0.94. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27, a current ratio of 2.42 and a quick ratio of 1.67. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $19.14 and a two-hundred day moving average of $16.61. NOV has a 1-year low of $10.84 and a 1-year high of $20.85.

NOV (NYSE:NOV) last released its earnings results on Thursday, February 5th. The oil and gas exploration company reported $0.02 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate 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 analyst estimates of $2.17 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.41 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was down 1.3% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts anticipate that NOV will post 1.4 EPS for the current year.

NOV Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 27th. Investors of record on Friday, March 13th were paid a dividend of $0.09 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 13th. This is a positive change from NOV’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.08. This represents a $0.36 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.9%. NOV’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 94.74%.

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.