United Capital Financial Advisors LLC Invests $839,000 in NOV Inc. $NOV

United Capital Financial Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of NOV Inc. (NYSE:NOV) during the second quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund acquired 45,250 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock, valued at approximately $839,000.

Other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Royal Bank of Canada lifted its holdings in NOV by 15.6% in 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. grew its holdings in NOV by 35.5% during 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 purchasing an additional 42,462 shares during the last quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC raised its position in shares of NOV by 17.4% in 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 purchasing an additional 157,385 shares during the period. Focus Partners Wealth bought a new position in shares of NOV in the first quarter valued at approximately $214,000. Finally, Cetera Investment Advisers acquired a new stake in shares of NOV in the second quarter worth $190,000. 93.27% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director David D. Harrison sold 9,594 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, July 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $19.21, for a total transaction of $184,300.74. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 126,763 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,435,117.23. This represents a 7.04% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Insiders own 1.15% of the company’s stock.

NOV Price Performance

NOV opened at $20.99 on Monday. The business has a 50 day moving average of $19.63 and a 200-day moving average of $19.72. The stock has a market capitalization of $7.48 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 80.73 and a beta of 0.92. The company has a current ratio of 2.42, a quick ratio of 1.61 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27. NOV Inc. has a 1-year low of $12.28 and a 1-year high of $21.67.

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

NOV Dividend Announcement

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

NOV has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Capital One Financial upgraded shares of NOV from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $26.00 target price on the stock in a research note on Thursday, June 4th. Susquehanna boosted their target price on shares of NOV from $22.00 to $24.00 and gave the stock a “positive” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 30th. TD Cowen upped their price target on shares of NOV from $25.00 to $26.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, July 30th. Citigroup raised their price target on NOV from $20.00 to $22.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, June 18th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of NOV in a research note on Wednesday, June 24th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, nine have issued a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $21.31.

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.