Towle & Co. Purchases Shares of 332,421 NOV Inc. $NOV

Towle & Co. acquired a new position in NOV Inc. (NYSE:NOV) in the first quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor acquired 332,421 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,253,000. NOV comprises 2.4% of Towle & Co.’s holdings, making the stock its 21st largest holding.

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on NOV shares. Morgan Stanley set a $21.00 price objective on shares of NOV in a report on Wednesday, July 15th. Royal Bank Of Canada boosted their target price 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. Capital One Financial upgraded shares of NOV from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $26.00 price target on the stock in a research note on Thursday, June 4th. Evercore upgraded shares of NOV to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 29th. Finally, TD Cowen raised shares of NOV from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 29th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have issued a Buy rating, ten have given a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $20.50.

NOV Stock Performance

Shares of NOV stock opened at $20.11 on Friday. NOV Inc. has a 52-week low of $11.77 and a 52-week high of $21.55. The company has a quick ratio of 1.66, a current ratio of 2.47 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27. The stock has a market cap of $7.22 billion, a PE ratio of 83.82 and a beta of 0.91. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $19.74 and a 200-day simple moving average of $19.33.

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

NOV Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a special dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 26th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 12th were issued a dividend of $0.09 per share. This represents a dividend yield of 170.0%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, June 12th. NOV’s payout ratio is 150.00%.

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.