NOV (NYSE:NOV) Given New $25.00 Price Target at Stifel Nicolaus

NOV (NYSE:NOV) had its target price trimmed by Stifel Nicolaus from $26.00 to $25.00 in a report published on Friday, Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a buy rating on the oil and gas exploration company’s stock.

Several other research firms have also weighed in on NOV. Evercore ISI upgraded shares of NOV to a strong-buy rating in a research note on Friday, July 26th. BMO Capital Markets lowered their price target on shares of NOV from $22.00 to $20.00 and set a market perform rating for the company in a research report on Thursday. Wells Fargo & Company lowered shares of NOV from an equal weight rating to an underweight rating and lowered their price target for the stock from $20.00 to $16.00 in a research report on Wednesday, September 25th. Citigroup decreased their target price on shares of NOV from $24.00 to $21.00 and set a buy rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, October 3rd. Finally, Susquehanna decreased their target price on shares of NOV from $26.00 to $22.00 and set a positive rating for the company in a research report on Friday. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating, nine have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of Moderate Buy and an average price target of $22.93.

NOV Trading Up 1.3 %

NOV opened at $16.39 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $6.45 billion, a PE ratio of 6.14, a P/E/G ratio of 0.47 and a beta of 1.67. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $16.93 and its 200 day moving average price is $18.15. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27, a current ratio of 2.61 and a quick ratio of 1.64. NOV has a 12-month low of $15.47 and a 12-month high of $21.53.

NOV (NYSE:NOV) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 25th. The oil and gas exploration company reported $0.57 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.35 by $0.22. The firm had revenue of $2.22 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.19 billion. NOV had a net margin of 11.88% and a return on equity of 10.97%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 5.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.39 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts expect that NOV will post 1.64 EPS for the current fiscal year.

NOV Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 27th. Stockholders of record on Friday, September 13th were given a $0.075 dividend. This represents a $0.30 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.83%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, September 13th. NOV’s dividend payout ratio is 11.24%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On NOV

Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. raised its position in shares of NOV by 95.2% in the fourth quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 879,960 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock valued at $17,846,000 after purchasing an additional 429,104 shares during the period. Wintrust Investments LLC increased its position in NOV by 631.6% during the first quarter. Wintrust Investments LLC now owns 81,943 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock worth $1,600,000 after acquiring an additional 70,743 shares during the period. Stanley Laman Group Ltd. acquired a new stake in NOV during the second quarter worth $4,031,000. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC boosted its stake in NOV by 1.1% during the first quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 3,883,885 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock worth $75,813,000 after buying an additional 42,717 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Deprince Race & Zollo Inc. boosted its stake in NOV by 1,194.1% during the second quarter. Deprince Race & Zollo Inc. now owns 1,706,017 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock worth $32,431,000 after buying an additional 1,574,188 shares in the last quarter. 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.