NOV Inc. (NYSE:NOV) Receives Average Recommendation of “Hold” from Brokerages

Shares of NOV Inc. (NYSE:NOV) have earned a consensus rating of “Hold” from the seventeen analysts that are covering the company, MarketBeat reports. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating, four have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating on the company. The average 12 month price objective among brokers that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $20.5714.

Several analysts recently weighed in on the company. Evercore raised NOV to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 29th. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on NOV from $18.00 to $20.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 15th. Royal Bank Of Canada raised their price objective on NOV from $21.00 to $22.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 29th. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price objective on NOV from $21.00 to $23.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, April 20th. Finally, Citigroup lifted their price target on NOV from $20.00 to $22.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday.

NOV Stock Performance

NYSE:NOV opened at $18.64 on Thursday. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $20.18 and its 200 day simple moving average is $18.84. The firm has a market capitalization of $6.69 billion, a PE ratio of 77.65 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 has a twelve month low of $11.77 and a twelve month high of $21.55.

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

NOV Announces Dividend

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

Institutional Trading of NOV

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in NOV. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD boosted its stake in shares of 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 valued at $79,080,000 after purchasing an additional 4,785,015 shares in the last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. boosted its stake in shares of NOV by 401.9% during the second quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 3,165,518 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock valued at $39,347,000 after purchasing an additional 2,534,815 shares in the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. lifted its stake in shares of NOV by 43.6% in the third 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 acquiring an additional 2,304,975 shares during the period. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of NOV by 76.4% in the fourth quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 2,721,997 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock worth $42,545,000 after acquiring an additional 1,178,838 shares during the period. Finally, Marshall Wace LLP acquired a new position in shares of NOV in the third quarter worth approximately $14,114,000. 93.27% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.