Jefferies Financial Group Inc. Takes Position in NOV Inc. (NYSE:NOV)

Jefferies Financial Group Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of NOV Inc. (NYSE:NOV - Free Report) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 52,221 shares of the oil and gas exploration company's stock, valued at approximately $762,000.

Other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Mariner LLC raised its stake in shares of NOV by 2.9% in the fourth quarter. Mariner LLC now owns 24,201 shares of the oil and gas exploration company's stock worth $353,000 after buying an additional 672 shares during the period. Signaturefd LLC raised its stake in shares of NOV by 41.3% in the fourth quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 2,587 shares of the oil and gas exploration company's stock worth $38,000 after buying an additional 756 shares during the period. Huntington National Bank raised its stake in shares of NOV by 88.7% in the fourth quarter. Huntington National Bank now owns 2,200 shares of the oil and gas exploration company's stock worth $32,000 after buying an additional 1,034 shares during the period. ProShare Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of NOV by 6.1% in the fourth quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 18,204 shares of the oil and gas exploration company's stock worth $266,000 after buying an additional 1,042 shares during the period. Finally, Coppell Advisory Solutions LLC raised its stake in shares of NOV by 20.1% in the fourth quarter. Coppell Advisory Solutions LLC now owns 7,317 shares of the oil and gas exploration company's stock worth $106,000 after buying an additional 1,225 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 93.27% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

NOV has been the topic of several recent research reports. Royal Bank of Canada decreased their price objective on NOV from $20.00 to $19.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 30th. Morgan Stanley cut their price target on NOV from $18.00 to $15.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Friday, May 16th. Stifel Nicolaus cut their price target on NOV from $25.00 to $23.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, April 15th. Raymond James increased their price target on NOV from $18.00 to $19.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on NOV from $10.00 to $11.00 and gave the stock an "underweight" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $17.50.

NOV Stock Down 2.3%

NOV stock traded down $0.28 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $12.00. 4,791,350 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 3,978,915. NOV Inc. has a 12 month low of $10.84 and a 12 month high of $21.20. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26, a quick ratio of 1.64 and a current ratio of 2.46. The company has a market cap of $4.51 billion, a PE ratio of 7.45, a P/E/G ratio of 1.02 and a beta of 1.27. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $12.61 and a two-hundred day moving average of $14.24.

NOV (NYSE:NOV - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, April 28th. The oil and gas exploration company reported $0.19 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.25 by ($0.06). NOV had a return on equity of 9.88% and a net margin of 7.16%. The firm had revenue of $2.10 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $2.11 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.30 earnings per share. NOV's revenue for the quarter was down 2.4% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts expect that NOV Inc. will post 1.4 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

NOV Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 13th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, June 3rd will be issued a $0.21 dividend. This represents a yield of 3.63%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 2nd. NOV's dividend payout ratio is currently 20.00%.

NOV 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.