Van ECK Associates Corp Sells 77,624 Shares of NOV Inc. $NOV

Van ECK Associates Corp decreased its position in NOV Inc. (NYSE:NOV) by 2.2% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 3,453,353 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock after selling 77,624 shares during the period. Van ECK Associates Corp owned approximately 0.95% of NOV worth $45,757,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of NOV. CoreFirst Bank & Trust acquired a new position in shares of NOV in the 2nd quarter valued at about $35,000. UMB Bank n.a. grew its stake in NOV by 114.1% during the third quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 3,109 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock worth $41,000 after purchasing an additional 1,657 shares during the period. Fifth Third Bancorp increased its holdings in NOV by 88.4% in the third quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 5,083 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock worth $67,000 after purchasing an additional 2,385 shares in the last quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. lifted its stake in NOV by 33.6% in the second quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 6,595 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock valued at $82,000 after buying an additional 1,658 shares during the period. Finally, Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. boosted its holdings in shares of NOV by 25.3% during the 3rd quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 6,738 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock worth $89,000 after buying an additional 1,359 shares in the last quarter. 93.27% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity at NOV

In other news, insider Joseph W. Rovig sold 151,086 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $20.17, for a total value of $3,047,404.62. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 269,694 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,439,727.98. This represents a 35.91% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, VP Craig L. Weinstock sold 70,000 shares of NOV stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $20.08, for a total value of $1,405,600.00. Following the transaction, the vice president directly owned 256,319 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,146,885.52. The trade was a 21.45% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Corporate insiders own 2.08% of the company’s stock.

NOV Stock Performance

NOV opened at $19.12 on Thursday. NOV Inc. has a 1-year low of $10.84 and a 1-year high of $20.85. The company has a market cap of $6.89 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 50.33 and a beta of 0.89. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $18.67 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $15.86. The company has a current ratio of 2.42, a quick ratio of 1.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27.

NOV (NYSE:NOV) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, February 5th. The oil and gas exploration company reported $0.02 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.25 by ($0.23). NOV had a return on equity of 3.57% and a net margin of 1.66%.The business had revenue of $2.28 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.17 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.41 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was down 1.3% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts expect that NOV Inc. will post 1.4 EPS for the current fiscal year.

NOV Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 27th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 13th will be issued a dividend of $0.09 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 13th. This represents a $0.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.9%. This is an increase from NOV’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.08. NOV’s dividend payout ratio is presently 78.95%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts have recently commented on NOV shares. BMO Capital Markets raised their price objective on shares of NOV from $19.00 to $20.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Monday, February 9th. Argus raised shares of NOV to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 10th. Citigroup raised their price target on shares of NOV from $17.00 to $20.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 11th. TD Cowen lowered shares of NOV from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday. Finally, Evercore set a $19.00 price objective on shares of NOV in a research report on Friday, February 6th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, ten have given a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $18.57.

NOV Company Profile

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.