Louisiana State Employees Retirement System Takes Position in NOV Inc. $NOV

Louisiana State Employees Retirement System purchased a new position in shares of NOV Inc. (NYSE:NOV) during the first quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor purchased 104,500 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,966,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of NOV. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its stake in NOV by 2.1% in the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 18,972,635 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock valued at $296,547,000 after purchasing an additional 394,582 shares during the period. American Century Companies Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of NOV by 43.6% in the 3rd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 7,596,504 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock worth $100,654,000 after buying an additional 2,304,975 shares during the last quarter. First Trust Advisors LP boosted its holdings in shares of NOV by 0.4% in the 4th quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 7,033,947 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock worth $109,941,000 after buying an additional 25,610 shares during the last quarter. Bank of America Corp DE grew its position in NOV by 14.8% during the third quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 5,346,302 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock valued at $70,839,000 after buying an additional 689,427 shares during the period. Finally, Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its holdings in NOV by 1,743.9% during the fourth quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 5,059,400 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock worth $79,080,000 after buying an additional 4,785,015 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 93.27% of the company’s stock.

NOV Stock Up 0.8%

NOV stock opened at $18.57 on Wednesday. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $20.11 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $18.94. NOV Inc. has a twelve month low of $11.77 and a twelve month high of $21.55. The firm has a market capitalization of $6.67 billion, a PE ratio of 77.39 and a beta of 0.89. The company has a quick ratio of 1.66, a current ratio of 2.47 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27.

NOV (NYSE:NOV) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 28th. The oil and gas exploration company reported $0.05 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.17 by ($0.12). The firm had revenue of $2.05 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.05 billion. NOV had a net margin of 1.05% and a return on equity of 3.34%. NOV’s revenue was down 2.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.19 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts predict that NOV Inc. will post 0.9 EPS for the current fiscal year.

NOV Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a special dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 26th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 12th were given a dividend of $0.09 per share. This represents a dividend yield of 170.0%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, June 12th. NOV’s payout ratio is 150.00%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have commented on the stock. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on shares of NOV from $18.00 to $20.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 15th. The Goldman Sachs Group set a $19.00 price target on shares of NOV in a research note on Wednesday, June 3rd. Barclays reaffirmed an “underweight” rating and issued a $21.00 price target (up from $20.00) on shares of NOV in a report on Thursday, May 7th. TD Cowen upgraded NOV from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 29th. Finally, Capital One Financial raised NOV from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $26.00 price objective for the company in a report on Thursday, June 4th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have assigned a Buy rating, ten have issued a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, NOV presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $20.57.

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.