NOV (NYSE:NOV) Reaches New 52-Week High – Should You Buy?

NOV Inc. (NYSE:NOV) reached a new 52-week high during trading on Monday . The stock traded as high as $21.59 and last traded at $21.53, with a volume of 1386491 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at $21.14.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on NOV shares. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of NOV in a report on Wednesday, June 24th. Royal Bank Of Canada increased their price objective on shares of NOV from $21.00 to $22.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 29th. Citigroup raised their price objective on shares of NOV from $20.00 to $22.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, June 18th. Morgan Stanley set a $21.00 target price on NOV in a research report on Wednesday, July 15th. Finally, Evercore upgraded NOV to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 29th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have given a Buy rating, eight have issued a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, NOV currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $21.31.

NOV Stock Up 2.0%

The business’s fifty day moving average is $19.56 and its two-hundred day moving average is $19.59. The company has a market cap of $7.69 billion, a P/E ratio of 82.92 and a beta of 0.92. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27, a quick ratio of 1.61 and a current ratio of 2.42.

NOV (NYSE:NOV) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 28th. The oil and gas exploration company reported $0.31 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.17 by $0.14. The company had revenue of $2.13 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.08 billion. NOV had a net margin of 1.10% and a return on equity of 3.44%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 2.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.29 EPS. Equities analysts predict that NOV Inc. will post 0.94 EPS for the current year.

NOV Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a special dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 26th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 12th were given a dividend of $0.09 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, June 12th. This represents a yield of 170.0%. NOV’s payout ratio is 138.46%.

Insider Buying and Selling at NOV

In other NOV 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 completion of the sale, the director directly owned 126,763 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,435,117.23. This represents a 7.04% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 1.15% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of NOV

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in NOV. BlackRock Inc. bought a new position in shares of NOV in the 2nd quarter worth $697,976,000. Pzena Investment Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of NOV in the 2nd quarter worth $674,776,000. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew 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 worth $79,080,000 after acquiring an additional 4,785,015 shares during the last quarter. Bank of America Corp DE purchased a new stake in NOV during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $77,520,000. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp purchased a new stake in shares of NOV during the second quarter valued at $54,767,000. 93.27% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.