NOV (NYSE:NOV) Share Price Crosses Above 50-Day Moving Average – Should You Sell?

NOV Inc. (NYSE:NOV) shares passed above its 50-day moving average during trading on Monday. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $20.03 and traded as high as $20.24. NOV shares last traded at $20.1860, with a volume of 3,441,094 shares traded.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have recently commented on NOV shares. Citigroup reduced their price target on shares of NOV from $22.00 to $21.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, September 30th. TD Cowen lifted their price objective on NOV from $25.00 to $26.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 30th. Susquehanna increased their price target on NOV from $22.00 to $24.00 and gave the stock a “positive” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 30th. Barclays reduced their price objective on shares of NOV from $21.00 to $20.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, July 31st. Finally, Morgan Stanley set a $21.00 target price on NOV in a research report on Wednesday, July 15th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, nine have given a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $21.23.

NOV Stock Up 2.2%

The company has a current ratio of 2.42, a quick ratio of 1.61 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27. The firm has a market cap of $7.20 billion, a P/E ratio of 77.64 and a beta of 0.97. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $20.03 and a 200-day moving average price of $19.60.

NOV (NYSE:NOV) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 28th. The oil and gas exploration company reported $0.31 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.17 by $0.14. NOV had a return on equity of 3.44% and a net margin of 1.10%. The firm had revenue of $2.13 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.08 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.29 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 2.5% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts forecast that NOV Inc. will post 0.99 EPS for the current fiscal year.

NOV Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 25th. Investors of record on Friday, September 11th were given a dividend of $0.09 per share. This represents a $0.36 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.8%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, September 11th. NOV’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 138.46%.

Insider Buying and Selling at NOV

In other news, Director David Harrison sold 9,594 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, July 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $19.21, for a total value of $184,300.74. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 126,763 shares in the company, valued at $2,435,117.23. The trade was a 7.04% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. 1.15% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in NOV. BlackRock Inc. purchased a new stake in NOV during the second quarter worth about $697,976,000. Pzena Investment Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of NOV in the second quarter valued at about $674,776,000. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its position in shares of NOV by 2.3% in the first quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 19,404,319 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock valued at $364,987,000 after buying an additional 431,684 shares in the last quarter. First Trust Advisors LP raised its holdings in shares of NOV by 2.3% in the first quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 7,192,735 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock worth $135,295,000 after acquiring an additional 158,788 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bank of America Corp DE boosted its holdings in shares of NOV by 17.0% during the first quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 4,575,450 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock worth $86,064,000 after purchasing an additional 664,969 shares during the last quarter. 93.27% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

NOV Company Profile

NOV Inc (NYSE: NOV) is a Houston-based technology and equipment provider serving the global energy industry. The company develops and manufactures products and systems used in oil and natural gas drilling, well construction, completion and production operations.

Its offerings include land and offshore drilling rigs, rig equipment and components, downhole tools, drill pipe, wellbore technologies, pressure-control systems, and equipment used to enhance production. NOV also provides aftermarket parts, technical support, maintenance and other services designed to help energy companies operate and maintain their equipment.

The company was formed in 2005 through the merger of National Oilwell and Varco International, building on businesses with much longer histories in the oilfield equipment industry.