State of Michigan Retirement System Sells 1,300 Shares of NOV Inc. (NYSE:NOV)

State of Michigan Retirement System trimmed its position in NOV Inc. (NYSE:NOV) by 1.4% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 92,177 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock after selling 1,300 shares during the period. State of Michigan Retirement System’s holdings in NOV were worth $1,346,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in NOV. GSA Capital Partners LLP grew its position in NOV by 63.1% during the third quarter. GSA Capital Partners LLP now owns 46,808 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock worth $748,000 after buying an additional 18,102 shares in the last quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of NOV by 32.2% during the 3rd quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 109,984 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock valued at $1,756,000 after acquiring an additional 26,792 shares during the last quarter. MQS Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of NOV during the third quarter worth about $454,000. KBC Group NV increased its position in shares of NOV by 11.8% in the third quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 11,060 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock worth $177,000 after purchasing an additional 1,163 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Quest Partners LLC purchased a new stake in NOV in the third quarter valued at approximately $96,000. 93.27% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have recently commented on NOV. Raymond James increased their price target on shares of NOV from $18.00 to $19.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, February 6th. Evercore ISI reissued an “in-line” rating and issued a $18.00 target price (down previously from $25.00) on shares of NOV in a research note on Wednesday, January 15th. Seaport Res Ptn lowered NOV from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Sunday, January 5th. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price objective on NOV from $21.00 to $22.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a report on Thursday, February 6th. Finally, ATB Capital reissued a “sector perform” rating and set a $19.00 price objective on shares of NOV in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, NOV currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $19.60.

NOV Trading Up 4.6 %

Shares of NOV opened at $15.00 on Friday. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $15.01 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $15.65. NOV Inc. has a twelve month low of $13.77 and a twelve month high of $21.20. The stock has a market capitalization of $5.71 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.32, a PEG ratio of 1.02 and a beta of 1.66. The company has a quick ratio of 1.64, a current ratio of 2.46 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, research analysts anticipate that NOV Inc. will post 1.4 EPS for the current year.

NOV Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be paid a dividend of $0.075 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 14th. This represents a $0.30 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.00%. NOV’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 18.63%.

About NOV

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.