Nabors Industries (NYSE:NBR) Shares Gap Up – Should You Buy?

Nabors Industries Ltd. (NYSE:NBR) gapped up before the market opened on Monday . The stock had previously closed at $73.09, but opened at $75.75. Nabors Industries shares last traded at $75.04, with a volume of 28,186 shares trading hands.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages recently weighed in on NBR. Citigroup lowered Nabors Industries from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and cut their target price for the stock from $110.00 to $75.00 in a research report on Friday, September 13th. Barclays dropped their target price on shares of Nabors Industries from $110.00 to $88.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, October 16th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reissued a “sector perform” rating and issued a $102.00 target price on shares of Nabors Industries in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $98.80.

Nabors Industries Stock Performance

The stock has a market capitalization of $770.65 million, a PE ratio of -5.29 and a beta of 2.11. The company has a current ratio of 1.82, a quick ratio of 1.57 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.01. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $73.64 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $75.55.

Nabors Industries (NYSE:NBR) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 23rd. The oil and gas company reported ($4.29) EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($1.77) by ($2.52). Nabors Industries had a negative net margin of 4.73% and a negative return on equity of 28.10%. The firm had revenue of $742.98 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $737.91 million. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted ($2.26) EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 4.6% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts expect that Nabors Industries Ltd. will post -12.24 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Nabors Industries

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. boosted its position in Nabors Industries by 111.6% in the fourth quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 397,102 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $32,415,000 after buying an additional 209,450 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Nabors Industries by 5.1% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 819,113 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $70,550,000 after buying an additional 40,078 shares in the last quarter. Burney Co. acquired a new stake in shares of Nabors Industries during the first quarter worth about $989,000. Nicola Wealth Management LTD. lifted its stake in Nabors Industries by 182.9% in the second quarter. Nicola Wealth Management LTD. now owns 23,200 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $1,651,000 after buying an additional 15,000 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Swiss National Bank boosted its stake in Nabors Industries by 3.4% in the 1st quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 18,500 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $1,593,000 after purchasing an additional 600 shares during the period. 81.92% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

About Nabors Industries

Nabors Industries Ltd. provides drilling and drilling-related services for land-based and offshore oil and natural gas wells in the United States and internationally. The company operates through four segments: U.S. Drilling, International Drilling, Drilling Solutions, and Rig Technologies. It provides tubular running services, including casing and tubing running, and torque monitoring; managed pressure drilling services; and drilling-bit steering systems and rig instrumentation software.