American Century Companies Inc. Boosts Position in NOV Inc. (NYSE:NOV)

American Century Companies Inc. lifted its position in NOV Inc. (NYSE:NOV) by 416.5% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 648,506 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock after buying an additional 522,941 shares during the quarter. American Century Companies Inc. owned approximately 0.17% of NOV worth $9,468,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. UMB Bank n.a. lifted its stake in NOV by 222.3% in the 4th quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 2,337 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock worth $34,000 after purchasing an additional 1,612 shares in the last quarter. Quarry LP bought a new position in shares of NOV in the third quarter worth $36,000. Signaturefd LLC raised its position in shares of NOV by 41.3% in the fourth quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 2,587 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock worth $38,000 after buying an additional 756 shares in the last quarter. Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd Zurich bought a new stake in NOV during the fourth quarter valued at $42,000. Finally, R Squared Ltd purchased a new position in NOV during the fourth quarter worth about $44,000. 93.27% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

NOV Trading Down 0.5 %

Shares of NOV stock opened at $15.34 on Thursday. The business has a 50-day moving average of $15.00 and a 200 day moving average of $15.38. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26, a current ratio of 2.46 and a quick ratio of 1.64. NOV Inc. has a 1-year low of $13.78 and a 1-year high of $21.20. The stock has a market capitalization of $5.84 billion, a PE ratio of 9.53, a P/E/G ratio of 1.02 and a beta of 1.34.

NOV (NYSE:NOV) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 4th. The oil and gas exploration company reported $0.41 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.35 by $0.06. NOV had a return on equity of 9.88% and a net margin of 7.16%. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that NOV Inc. will post 1.4 earnings per share for the current year.

NOV Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th were given a $0.075 dividend. This represents a $0.30 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.96%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 14th. NOV’s payout ratio is 18.63%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have weighed in on the company. Seaport Res Ptn cut NOV from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Sunday, January 5th. ATB Capital reaffirmed a “sector perform” rating and issued a $19.00 target price on shares of NOV in a research note on Tuesday, December 10th. Barclays boosted their price target on shares of NOV from $12.00 to $13.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 18th. Royal Bank of Canada upgraded shares of NOV from a “sector perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $22.00 price objective on the stock in a research report on Monday, March 24th. Finally, Evercore ISI reiterated an “in-line” rating and issued a $18.00 target price (down from $25.00) on shares of NOV in a research report on Wednesday, January 15th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $19.60.

NOV Company Profile

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.