NOV (NYSE:NOV) Hits New 12-Month High – Still a Buy?

Shares of NOV Inc. (NYSE:NOV) reached a new 52-week high during mid-day trading on Monday . The company traded as high as $21.91 and last traded at $21.3220, with a volume of 14500 shares changing hands. The stock had previously closed at $20.99.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms recently weighed in on NOV. Citigroup upped their price target on NOV from $20.00 to $22.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, June 18th. The Goldman Sachs Group set a $19.00 price objective on NOV in a report on Wednesday, June 3rd. TD Cowen upped their target price on NOV from $25.00 to $26.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, July 30th. Zacks Research cut NOV from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 26th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c)” rating on shares of NOV in a research note on Wednesday, June 24th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, nine have assigned a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $21.31.

NOV Stock Up 3.0%

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27, a current ratio of 2.42 and a quick ratio of 1.61. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $19.63 and its 200 day moving average price is $19.72. The firm has a market capitalization of $7.70 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 83.27 and a beta of 0.92.

NOV (NYSE:NOV) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 28th. The oil and gas exploration company reported $0.31 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.17 by $0.14. NOV had a return on equity of 3.44% and a net margin of 1.10%.The firm had revenue of $2.13 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.08 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.29 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 2.5% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts expect that NOV Inc. will post 0.99 EPS for the current year.

NOV Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 25th. Stockholders of record on Friday, September 11th will be issued a $0.09 dividend. This represents a $0.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.7%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, September 11th. NOV’s payout ratio is 138.46%.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director David D. Harrison sold 9,594 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction 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 directly owned 126,763 shares in the company, valued at $2,435,117.23. This represents a 7.04% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 1.15% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in NOV. Royal Bank of Canada boosted its stake in shares of NOV by 15.6% during the 1st quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 49,721 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock worth $756,000 after purchasing an additional 6,711 shares during the last quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. raised its position in shares of NOV by 35.5% in the first 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 last quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC lifted its stake in shares of NOV by 17.4% during the first 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 acquired a new stake in NOV during the first quarter worth approximately $214,000. Finally, Cetera Investment Advisers acquired a new stake in NOV during the second quarter worth approximately $190,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 93.27% of the company’s stock.

About NOV

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.