DNOW (NYSE:DNOW) Stock Rating Lowered by Zacks Research

Key Points

• Zacks Research downgraded DNOW from a "hold" to a "strong sell", amid other recent analyst downgrades; the stock still carries a consensus "Hold" rating with a $17 consensus target price.
• DNOW opened at $12.15 (52‑week range $10.94–$17.48) and trades with a negative P/E of -41.91; its latest quarter delivered $0.15 EPS (in line) but $959M revenue that missed estimates, producing a negative net margin despite 68% YoY revenue growth.
• Large institutions have been accumulating shares—Vanguard and Wellington each added over 7 million shares in Q4—and roughly 97.63% of DNOW is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

DNOW (NYSE:DNOW - Get Free Report) was downgraded by investment analysts at Zacks Research from a "hold" rating to a "strong sell" rating in a report released on Tuesday,Zacks.com reports.

A number of other analysts also recently commented on the stock. Stifel Nicolaus cut their price objective on shares of DNOW from $18.00 to $16.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Monday, February 23rd. Wall Street Zen lowered DNOW from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Sunday, March 8th. Weiss Ratings cut DNOW from a "hold (c)" rating to a "sell (d+)" rating in a report on Friday, February 27th. Finally, KeyCorp set a $19.00 price objective on DNOW in a research report on Thursday, December 18th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $17.00.

DNOW Price Performance

DNOW stock opened at $12.15 on Tuesday. DNOW has a 52-week low of $10.94 and a 52-week high of $17.48. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.26 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -41.91 and a beta of 0.79. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $13.73 and a 200-day simple moving average of $14.06. The company has a quick ratio of 1.11, a current ratio of 2.34 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18.

DNOW (NYSE:DNOW - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Friday, February 20th. The oil and gas company reported $0.15 EPS for the quarter, meeting analysts' consensus estimates of $0.15. The business had revenue of $959.00 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $969.50 million. DNOW had a negative net margin of 2.66% and a positive return on equity of 7.26%. The company's quarterly revenue was up 68.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.25 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts anticipate that DNOW will post 0.86 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On DNOW

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of DNOW. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of DNOW by 66.1% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 19,498,204 shares of the oil and gas company's stock valued at $258,351,000 after buying an additional 7,762,071 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its position in shares of DNOW by 187.2% during the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 10,813,205 shares of the oil and gas company's stock valued at $143,275,000 after buying an additional 7,048,382 shares during the period. Boston Partners purchased a new stake in shares of DNOW during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $72,302,000. Pzena Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in DNOW in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $55,135,000. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its holdings in DNOW by 60.8% in the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 10,374,585 shares of the oil and gas company's stock valued at $137,466,000 after acquiring an additional 3,920,731 shares during the last quarter. 97.63% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

About DNOW

DistributionNOW NYSE: DNOW is a global distributor of energy and industrial products, serving a broad range of end-markets including oil and gas, petrochemical, power generation, and industrial manufacturing. Headquartered in Houston, Texas, the company provides solutions across the life cycle of energy and industrial assets, with an emphasis on safety, reliability and operational efficiency.

The company’s core product portfolio includes piping systems and related components (such as valves, fittings, flanges and gaskets), instrumentation, electrical and automation equipment, fasteners, industrial safety supplies, chemicals and composite products.

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