Renaissance Technologies LLC Sells 44,300 Shares of NOV Inc. $NOV

Renaissance Technologies LLC trimmed its stake in shares of NOV Inc. (NYSE:NOV) by 18.8% in the first quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 191,810 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock after selling 44,300 shares during the quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC’s holdings in NOV were worth $3,608,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. V Square Quantitative Management LLC bought a new stake in NOV during the fourth quarter worth about $28,000. Root Financial Partners LLC increased its holdings in NOV by 39.9% in the 1st quarter. Root Financial Partners LLC now owns 1,937 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock valued at $36,000 after buying an additional 552 shares during the period. Summit Securities Group LLC acquired a new position in shares of NOV in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $40,000. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC lifted its holdings in shares of NOV by 659.3% during the 4th quarter. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC now owns 2,278 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock worth $36,000 after acquiring an additional 1,978 shares during the period. Finally, Rothschild Investment LLC increased its stake in NOV by 50.1% in the fourth quarter. Rothschild Investment LLC now owns 2,337 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock valued at $37,000 after acquiring an additional 780 shares during the last quarter. 93.27% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on the company. Zacks Research raised NOV from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 28th. Royal Bank Of Canada lifted their target price on NOV from $21.00 to $22.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 29th. Citigroup boosted their target price on NOV from $20.00 to $22.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, June 18th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c)” rating on shares of NOV in a report on Wednesday, June 24th. Finally, TD Cowen raised their price target on shares of NOV from $25.00 to $26.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 30th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have assigned a Buy rating, eight have issued a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $21.31.

NOV Trading Down 1.4%

NYSE NOV opened at $19.62 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $7.00 billion, a PE ratio of 75.48 and a beta of 0.92. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $19.53 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $19.49. 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 12 month low of $11.77 and a 12 month high of $21.55.

NOV (NYSE:NOV) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 28th. The oil and gas exploration company reported $0.31 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.17 by $0.14. The company 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%. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 2.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.29 EPS. On average, analysts expect that NOV Inc. will post 0.94 EPS for the current year.

NOV Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a special dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 26th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 12th were issued a dividend of $0.09 per share. This represents a dividend yield of 170.0%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, June 12th. NOV’s dividend payout ratio is presently 138.46%.

Insider Activity at NOV

In other news, Director David D. Harrison sold 9,594 shares of NOV stock in a transaction on Friday, July 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $19.21, for a total value of $184,300.74. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 126,763 shares in the company, valued at $2,435,117.23. The trade was a 7.04% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. 1.15% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.