Wall Street Zen Upgrades DNOW (NYSE:DNOW) to Strong-Buy

DNOW (NYSE:DNOW) was upgraded by equities research analysts at Wall Street Zen from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report issued on Saturday.

Other research analysts also recently issued research reports about the company. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of DNOW in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. Stifel Nicolaus reissued a “buy” rating and set a $18.00 target price on shares of DNOW in a research note on Monday, November 24th. Zacks Research downgraded DNOW from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, October 6th. KeyCorp set a $19.00 price target on shares of DNOW in a report on Thursday. Finally, Susquehanna upgraded shares of DNOW from a “neutral” rating to a “positive” rating and set a $16.00 price objective for the company in a report on Friday, November 21st. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $17.67.

DNOW Stock Up 1.8%

Shares of DNOW opened at $13.68 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.44 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.72 and a beta of 0.81. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $13.91 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $14.68. DNOW has a twelve month low of $12.01 and a twelve month high of $18.45.

DNOW (NYSE:DNOW) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, November 5th. The oil and gas company reported $0.26 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.24 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $634.00 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $637.13 million. DNOW had a net margin of 3.91% and a return on equity of 9.35%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.21 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts expect that DNOW will post 0.86 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On DNOW

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of DNOW. Boston Partners bought a new position in shares of DNOW during the third quarter valued at approximately $72,302,000. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its position in DNOW by 260.2% during the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 3,764,823 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $57,414,000 after buying an additional 2,719,594 shares in the last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. increased its position in DNOW by 376.3% during the 1st quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 2,914,681 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $49,802,000 after buying an additional 2,302,738 shares in the last quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. purchased a new position in DNOW during the third quarter valued at $32,094,000. Finally, First Trust Advisors LP boosted its holdings in DNOW by 470.7% in the second quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 1,952,023 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $28,949,000 after acquiring an additional 1,609,981 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 97.63% of the company’s stock.

About DNOW

DistributionNOW (NYSE: DNOW) is a global distributor of energy and industrial products, serving a broad range of end-markets including oil and gas, petrochemical, power generation, and industrial manufacturing. Headquartered in Houston, Texas, the company provides solutions across the life cycle of energy and industrial assets, with an emphasis on safety, reliability and operational efficiency.

The company’s core product portfolio includes piping systems and related components (such as valves, fittings, flanges and gaskets), instrumentation, electrical and automation equipment, fasteners, industrial safety supplies, chemicals and composite products.