Van ECK Associates Corp Boosts Stock Holdings in NOV Inc. (NYSE:NOV)

Van ECK Associates Corp boosted its holdings in shares of NOV Inc. (NYSE:NOV - Free Report) by 22.1% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 5,182,044 shares of the oil and gas exploration company's stock after purchasing an additional 938,866 shares during the period. Van ECK Associates Corp owned 1.33% of NOV worth $75,658,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Savant Capital LLC bought a new stake in NOV in the fourth quarter valued at about $234,000. Empowered Funds LLC bought a new position in shares of NOV during the fourth quarter worth about $314,000. Verity Asset Management Inc. bought a new position in shares of NOV during the fourth quarter worth about $335,000. Trust Point Inc. bought a new position in shares of NOV during the fourth quarter worth about $183,000. Finally, R Squared Ltd acquired a new position in NOV during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $44,000. 93.27% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

NOV has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Royal Bank of Canada raised their price objective on NOV from $21.00 to $22.00 and gave the company a "sector perform" rating in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. TD Cowen lowered their price objective on NOV from $28.00 to $22.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, October 28th. ATB Capital reiterated a "sector perform" rating and issued a $19.00 price target on shares of NOV in a research note on Tuesday, December 10th. Atb Cap Markets lowered NOV from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 10th. Finally, Susquehanna cut their price objective on NOV from $22.00 to $21.00 and set a "positive" rating on the stock in a report on Monday, October 28th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $19.53.

NOV Trading Down 2.3 %

Shares of NYSE:NOV traded down $0.37 during midday trading on Monday, reaching $15.56. The company's stock had a trading volume of 5,138,447 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,010,687. The firm has a market capitalization of $6.05 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.66, a PEG ratio of 1.00 and a beta of 1.64. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26, a quick ratio of 1.65 and a current ratio of 2.46. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $14.93 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $15.93. NOV Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $13.94 and a fifty-two week high of $21.20.

NOV (NYSE:NOV - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The oil and gas exploration company reported $0.41 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.35 by $0.06. NOV had a return on equity of 9.88% and a net margin of 7.16%. As a group, analysts forecast that NOV Inc. will post 1.42 earnings per share for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director David D. Harrison sold 1,784 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $16.10, for a total value of $28,722.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 110,951 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,786,311.10. This represents a 1.58 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 1.85% of the company's stock.

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.