AQR Capital Management LLC Acquires 3,418,885 Shares of NOV Inc. (NYSE:NOV)

AQR Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of NOV Inc. (NYSE:NOV) by 232.6% in the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 4,888,891 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock after purchasing an additional 3,418,885 shares during the quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC’s holdings in NOV were worth $92,938,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in NOV. US Bancorp DE lifted its holdings in NOV by 5.1% during the 4th quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 32,786 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock valued at $665,000 after purchasing an additional 1,584 shares during the last quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC lifted its stake in shares of NOV by 8.7% during the 4th quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC now owns 72,397 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock worth $1,475,000 after buying an additional 5,801 shares during the last quarter. United Services Automobile Association boosted its holdings in shares of NOV by 11.6% during the 4th quarter. United Services Automobile Association now owns 32,975 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock worth $669,000 after buying an additional 3,440 shares during the period. TD Asset Management Inc grew its stake in NOV by 79.7% in the 4th quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 86,278 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock valued at $1,750,000 after buying an additional 38,278 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Treasurer of the State of North Carolina raised its holdings in NOV by 1.0% in the 4th quarter. Treasurer of the State of North Carolina now owns 173,988 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock valued at $3,528,000 after acquiring an additional 1,700 shares during the period. 93.27% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on NOV. Morgan Stanley reduced their price objective on NOV from $25.00 to $23.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, September 16th. Royal Bank of Canada restated a “sector perform” rating and issued a $24.00 price target on shares of NOV in a research note on Monday, July 29th. Piper Sandler decreased their price objective on NOV from $22.00 to $20.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, July 15th. Benchmark reissued a “hold” rating on shares of NOV in a report on Friday, July 26th. Finally, Evercore ISI raised shares of NOV to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, July 26th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $24.00.

NOV Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:NOV opened at $15.85 on Friday. NOV Inc. has a 1 year low of $15.47 and a 1 year high of $21.71. The stock has a market capitalization of $6.27 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 6.37, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.50 and a beta of 1.67. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27, a current ratio of 2.61 and a quick ratio of 1.64. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $17.62 and its 200 day simple moving average is $18.34.

NOV (NYSE:NOV) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, July 25th. The oil and gas exploration company reported $0.57 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.35 by $0.22. NOV had a net margin of 11.88% and a return on equity of 10.97%. The firm had revenue of $2.22 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.19 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.39 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 5.9% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts predict that NOV Inc. will post 1.63 EPS for the current fiscal year.

NOV Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 27th. Shareholders of record on Friday, September 13th will be given a $0.075 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, September 13th. This represents a $0.30 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.89%. NOV’s dividend payout ratio is presently 12.05%.

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.