Louisiana State Employees Retirement System Makes New $2.24 Million Investment in NOV Inc. (NYSE:NOV)

Louisiana State Employees Retirement System acquired a new stake in NOV Inc. (NYSE:NOV - Free Report) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor acquired 110,600 shares of the oil and gas exploration company's stock, valued at approximately $2,243,000.

Other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its holdings in shares of NOV by 16.6% during the 1st quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 762,999 shares of the oil and gas exploration company's stock valued at $14,961,000 after purchasing an additional 108,845 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James & Associates raised its holdings in NOV by 15.4% during the 1st quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 175,860 shares of the oil and gas exploration company's stock worth $3,449,000 after buying an additional 23,430 shares during the period. Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc. lifted its stake in NOV by 8.4% in the first quarter. Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc. now owns 13,935 shares of the oil and gas exploration company's stock valued at $273,000 after buying an additional 1,079 shares in the last quarter. US Bancorp DE boosted its holdings in shares of NOV by 2.0% in the first quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 39,557 shares of the oil and gas exploration company's stock valued at $777,000 after buying an additional 788 shares during the period. Finally, HighTower Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of NOV by 7.8% during the first quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC now owns 40,976 shares of the oil and gas exploration company's stock worth $801,000 after acquiring an additional 2,962 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 93.27% of the company's stock.

NOV Stock Performance

NYSE:NOV traded down $0.39 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, hitting $18.47. The stock had a trading volume of 2,153,745 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,350,396. The company's 50 day simple moving average is $18.39 and its 200 day simple moving average is $19.20. The stock has a market cap of $7.30 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 7.36, a PEG ratio of 0.36 and a beta of 1.74. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27, a quick ratio of 1.51 and a current ratio of 2.40. NOV Inc. has a twelve month low of $14.05 and a twelve month high of $21.91.

NOV (NYSE:NOV - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Friday, February 2nd. The oil and gas exploration company reported $1.51 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.41 by $1.10. NOV had a return on equity of 10.79% and a net margin of 11.57%. The company had revenue of $2.34 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.26 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.26 EPS. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 13.0% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts forecast that NOV Inc. will post 1.54 earnings per share for the current year.

NOV Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 28th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, March 14th were given a $0.05 dividend. This represents a $0.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.08%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, March 13th. NOV's payout ratio is presently 7.97%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other NOV news, CAO Christy Lynn Novak sold 3,500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $17.43, for a total value of $61,005.00. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 114,212 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,990,715.16. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 1.85% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on NOV shares. StockNews.com upgraded NOV from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Wednesday, January 31st. Stifel Nicolaus cut their target price on NOV from $28.00 to $26.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, February 5th. TD Cowen reduced their price target on NOV from $31.00 to $30.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research report on Monday, February 5th. Benchmark downgraded shares of NOV from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Tuesday, January 16th. Finally, Susquehanna restated a "positive" rating and set a $26.00 target price on shares of NOV in a report on Monday, April 8th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, NOV presently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $24.36.

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.