First Trust Advisors LP Raises Stock Holdings in NOV Inc. $NOV

First Trust Advisors LP raised its holdings in shares of NOV Inc. (NYSE:NOV) by 2.3% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 7,192,735 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock after purchasing an additional 158,788 shares during the quarter. First Trust Advisors LP owned 2.00% of NOV worth $135,295,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of NOV. Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. raised its holdings in shares of NOV by 203.9% during the 4th quarter. Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. now owns 85,897 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock worth $1,343,000 after acquiring an additional 57,634 shares during the period. Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd acquired a new stake in NOV during the first quarter worth about $2,331,000. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC increased its position in NOV by 99.2% during the fourth quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 65,626 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock worth $1,109,000 after purchasing an additional 32,675 shares during the last quarter. Fiduciary Alliance LLC raised its stake in NOV by 183.9% during the fourth quarter. Fiduciary Alliance LLC now owns 218,486 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock worth $3,415,000 after purchasing an additional 141,525 shares during the period. Finally, Vest Financial LLC boosted its holdings in NOV by 13.5% in the 4th quarter. Vest Financial LLC now owns 430,231 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock valued at $6,725,000 after purchasing an additional 51,175 shares during the last quarter. 93.27% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

NOV Price Performance

NOV stock opened at $20.11 on Friday. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $19.74 and its 200-day simple moving average is $19.33. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27, a quick ratio of 1.66 and a current ratio of 2.47. NOV Inc. has a 1 year low of $11.77 and a 1 year high of $21.55. The company has a market capitalization of $7.22 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 83.82 and a beta of 0.91.

NOV (NYSE:NOV) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 28th. The oil and gas exploration company reported $0.05 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.17 by ($0.12). NOV had a return on equity of 3.34% and a net margin of 1.05%.The company had revenue of $2.05 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.05 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.19 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 2.4% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts expect that NOV Inc. will post 0.9 earnings per share for the current year.

NOV Dividend Announcement

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 dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 150.00%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

NOV has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Barclays restated an “underweight” rating and set a $21.00 price target (up from $20.00) on shares of NOV in a report on Thursday, May 7th. Citigroup upped their price objective on NOV from $20.00 to $22.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, June 18th. Morgan Stanley set a $21.00 target price on NOV in a research note on Wednesday, July 15th. Susquehanna reduced their target price on NOV from $24.00 to $22.00 and set a “positive” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, July 8th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada upped their price target on NOV from $21.00 to $22.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 29th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have issued a Buy rating, ten have assigned a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $20.50.

NOV 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.