Brokerages Set NOV Inc. (NYSE:NOV) Target Price at $21.64

Shares of NOV Inc. (NYSE:NOV) have been assigned a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the sixteen brokerages that are presently covering the firm, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell recommendation, five have issued a hold recommendation, eight have assigned a buy recommendation and one has issued a strong buy recommendation on the company. The average 12-month target price among brokers that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $21.64.

A number of research firms have commented on NOV. Susquehanna reduced their target price on NOV from $22.00 to $21.00 and set a “positive” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, October 28th. Bank of America reduced their price target on shares of NOV from $22.00 to $20.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, October 14th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their target price on shares of NOV from $16.00 to $15.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, November 4th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price target on NOV from $23.00 to $22.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, October 3rd. Finally, Barclays dropped their price objective on NOV from $17.00 to $16.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, October 29th.

NOV Stock Performance

NOV stock opened at $16.61 on Wednesday. The stock has a market cap of $6.46 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 6.13, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.95 and a beta of 1.66. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26, a current ratio of 2.57 and a quick ratio of 1.65. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $16.05 and a 200-day simple moving average of $17.42. NOV has a 1-year low of $14.98 and a 1-year high of $21.23.

NOV Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 20th. Investors of record on Friday, December 6th will be paid a dividend of $0.075 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 6th. This represents a $0.30 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.81%. NOV’s payout ratio is currently 11.07%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other NOV news, Director David D. Harrison sold 1,784 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $16.10, for a total value of $28,722.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 110,951 shares in the company, valued at $1,786,311.10. This represents a 1.58 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 1.85% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in NOV. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC grew its position in shares of NOV by 41.6% during the first quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC now owns 19,223 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock worth $375,000 after acquiring an additional 5,646 shares during the last quarter. Edgestream Partners L.P. acquired a new position in NOV in the first quarter valued at $314,000. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of NOV in the first quarter valued at about $277,000. Advisors Asset Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of NOV by 110.0% during the first quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. now owns 14,903 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock worth $291,000 after buying an additional 7,806 shares during the period. Finally, Ariel Investments LLC grew its holdings in shares of NOV by 33.5% during the first quarter. Ariel Investments LLC now owns 2,122,818 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock worth $41,437,000 after buying an additional 533,052 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 93.27% of the company’s stock.

About NOV

NOV Inc designs, constructs, manufactures, and sells systems, components, and products for oil and gas drilling and production, and industrial and renewable energy sectors in the United States and internationally. It operates through two segments, Energy Equipment, and Energy Products and Services. The company provides solids control and waste management equipment and services, managed pressure drilling, drilling fluids, premium drillpipe, wired pipe, drilling optimization services, tubular inspection and coating services, instrumentation, downhole tools, and drill bits.