MetLife Investment Management LLC Acquires 15,814 Shares of NOV Inc. (NYSE:NOV)

MetLife Investment Management LLC raised its holdings in NOV Inc. (NYSE:NOV) by 7.8% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 219,301 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock after buying an additional 15,814 shares during the period. MetLife Investment Management LLC owned about 0.06% of NOV worth $3,202,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Pacer Advisors Inc. raised its holdings in shares of NOV by 12,344.0% in the 4th quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 12,309,433 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock worth $179,718,000 after acquiring an additional 12,210,514 shares during the last quarter. First Pacific Advisors LP purchased a new stake in shares of NOV in the fourth quarter worth approximately $39,495,000. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its holdings in shares of NOV by 13.0% in the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 16,793,128 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock valued at $245,178,000 after purchasing an additional 1,934,243 shares in the last quarter. Greenhaven Associates Inc. boosted its position in shares of NOV by 61.7% during the fourth quarter. Greenhaven Associates Inc. now owns 3,291,042 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock valued at $48,049,000 after buying an additional 1,255,666 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Van ECK Associates Corp grew its holdings in NOV by 22.1% during the fourth quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 5,182,044 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock worth $75,658,000 after buying an additional 938,866 shares in the last quarter. 93.27% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

NOV Stock Performance

Shares of NOV stock opened at $12.34 on Friday. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $13.82 and its 200 day moving average is $14.83. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.67 billion, a P/E ratio of 7.66, a PEG ratio of 1.02 and a beta of 1.35. NOV Inc. has a 12 month low of $10.84 and a 12 month high of $21.20. The company has a current ratio of 2.46, a quick ratio of 1.64 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26.

NOV (NYSE:NOV) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The oil and gas exploration company reported $0.41 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.35 by $0.06. NOV had a return on equity of 9.88% and a net margin of 7.16%. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that NOV Inc. will post 1.4 earnings per share for the current year.

NOV Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th were issued a dividend of $0.075 per share. This represents a $0.30 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.43%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 14th. NOV’s payout ratio is presently 18.63%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

NOV has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Royal Bank of Canada upgraded NOV from a “sector perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $22.00 price objective on the stock in a research note on Monday, March 24th. Raymond James raised their price target on shares of NOV from $18.00 to $19.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. Evercore ISI reaffirmed an “in-line” rating and issued a $18.00 price objective (down from $25.00) on shares of NOV in a research report on Wednesday, January 15th. The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their target price on shares of NOV from $16.00 to $13.00 and set a “sell” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, April 10th. Finally, Susquehanna reduced their target price on NOV from $21.00 to $19.00 and set a “positive” rating for the company in a report on Monday, April 14th. Three 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 MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $19.00.

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.