NOV (NYSE:NOV) Reaches New 52-Week High – Here’s Why

NOV Inc. (NYSE:NOV)’s share price reached a new 52-week high during trading on Monday . The stock traded as high as $21.59 and last traded at $21.53, with a volume of 1386491 shares. The stock had previously closed at $21.14.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on the company. Evercore raised NOV to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 29th. Susquehanna boosted their target price on shares of NOV from $22.00 to $24.00 and gave the company a “positive” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 30th. The Goldman Sachs Group set a $19.00 price target on NOV in a research report on Wednesday, June 3rd. Capital One Financial upgraded NOV from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $26.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Thursday, June 4th. Finally, Morgan Stanley set a $21.00 price target on shares of NOV in a report on Wednesday, July 15th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have assigned a Buy rating, eight have assigned a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, NOV has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $21.31.

NOV Stock Performance

The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $19.57 and its 200-day simple moving average is $19.62. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27, a quick ratio of 1.61 and a current ratio of 2.42. The firm has a market capitalization of $7.50 billion, a PE ratio of 80.87 and a beta of 0.92.

NOV (NYSE:NOV) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, July 28th. The oil and gas exploration company reported $0.31 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.17 by $0.14. NOV had a net margin of 1.10% and a return on equity of 3.44%. The company had revenue of $2.13 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.08 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.29 earnings per share. NOV’s quarterly revenue was down 2.5% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts expect that NOV Inc. will post 0.94 EPS for the current year.

NOV Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a special dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 26th. Investors of record on Friday, June 12th were given a $0.09 dividend. This represents a dividend yield of 173.0%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, June 12th. NOV’s payout ratio is currently 138.46%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other NOV news, Director David D. Harrison sold 9,594 shares of NOV stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, July 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $19.21, for a total value of $184,300.74. Following the sale, the director owned 126,763 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,435,117.23. The trade was a 7.04% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. 1.15% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On NOV

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Royal Bank of Canada lifted its stake in shares of NOV by 15.6% in the 1st quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 49,721 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock valued at $756,000 after purchasing an additional 6,711 shares during the last quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. raised its holdings in NOV by 35.5% during the 1st quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 161,927 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock valued at $2,465,000 after buying an additional 42,462 shares during the period. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC raised its holdings in NOV by 17.4% during the 1st quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 1,062,292 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock valued at $16,168,000 after buying an additional 157,385 shares during the period. Focus Partners Wealth bought a new stake in NOV in the first quarter worth $214,000. Finally, Cetera Investment Advisers purchased a new position in NOV during the second quarter worth $190,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 93.27% of the company’s stock.

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.