Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund Invests $1.50 Million in NOV Inc. $NOV

Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund purchased a new stake in shares of NOV Inc. (NYSE:NOV) during the first quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor purchased 80,030 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,505,000.

Several other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the business. Royal Bank of Canada lifted its stake in NOV by 15.6% during the 1st quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 49,721 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock valued at $756,000 after acquiring an additional 6,711 shares during the period. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. grew its stake in shares of NOV by 35.5% in the first quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 161,927 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock worth $2,465,000 after acquiring an additional 42,462 shares during the period. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC raised its holdings in shares of NOV by 17.4% during the first quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 1,062,292 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock valued at $16,168,000 after purchasing an additional 157,385 shares during the last quarter. Focus Partners Wealth bought a new position in NOV during the first quarter valued at approximately $214,000. Finally, Cetera Investment Advisers purchased a new stake in NOV in the second quarter worth approximately $190,000. 93.27% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

NOV Stock Up 3.1%

Shares of NOV stock opened at $20.16 on Wednesday. The company has a current ratio of 2.47, a quick ratio of 1.66 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. The stock has a market cap of $7.24 billion, a P/E ratio of 84.02 and a beta of 0.91. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $19.75 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $19.27.

NOV (NYSE:NOV) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 28th. The oil and gas exploration company reported $0.05 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.17 by ($0.12). NOV had a return on equity of 3.34% and a net margin of 1.05%.The business had revenue of $2.05 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.05 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.19 EPS. The company’s revenue was down 2.4% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts expect that NOV Inc. will post 0.9 earnings per share for the current year.

NOV Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a special dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 26th. Investors of record on Friday, June 12th were given a dividend of $0.09 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, June 12th. This represents a yield of 170.0%. NOV’s payout ratio is 150.00%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have commented on NOV shares. Morgan Stanley set a $21.00 target price on shares of NOV in a research report on Wednesday, July 15th. Royal Bank Of Canada raised their price target on NOV from $21.00 to $22.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 29th. Evercore raised NOV to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 29th. Susquehanna reduced their price objective on NOV from $24.00 to $22.00 and set a “positive” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, July 8th. Finally, Barclays reissued an “underweight” rating and issued a $21.00 target price (up from $20.00) on shares of NOV in a report on Thursday, May 7th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have given a Buy rating, ten have issued a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $20.50.

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.