Traders Purchase Large Volume of Put Options on NOV (NYSE:NOV)

NOV Inc. (NYSE:NOV) saw unusually large options trading activity on Wednesday. Traders purchased 2,616 put options on the company. This represents an increase of approximately 1,353% compared to the average daily volume of 180 put options.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Susquehanna reaffirmed a “positive” rating and set a $26.00 price target on shares of NOV in a report on Monday, April 8th. StockNews.com raised shares of NOV from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 31st. Piper Sandler cut their target price on shares of NOV from $25.00 to $22.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, February 20th. TD Cowen cut their target price on shares of NOV from $27.00 to $26.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus cut their target price on shares of NOV from $28.00 to $26.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, February 5th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, NOV currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $24.07.

Insider Transactions at NOV

In other NOV news, CAO Christy Lynn Novak sold 3,500 shares of NOV 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 completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 114,212 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,990,715.16. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 1.85% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On NOV

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. CWM LLC lifted its holdings in shares of NOV by 10.8% in the fourth quarter. CWM LLC now owns 5,480 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock worth $111,000 after buying an additional 536 shares in the last quarter. CENTRAL TRUST Co lifted its holdings in shares of NOV by 85.4% in the third quarter. CENTRAL TRUST Co now owns 1,259 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock worth $26,000 after buying an additional 580 shares in the last quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of NOV by 1.2% in the fourth quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC now owns 50,280 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock worth $1,020,000 after buying an additional 580 shares in the last quarter. Wedmont Private Capital lifted its holdings in shares of NOV by 5.2% in the first quarter. Wedmont Private Capital now owns 12,992 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock worth $263,000 after buying an additional 643 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Park Avenue Securities LLC raised its stake in NOV by 4.7% in the third quarter. Park Avenue Securities LLC now owns 15,135 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock valued at $316,000 after purchasing an additional 676 shares in the last quarter. 93.27% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

NOV Price Performance

NOV opened at $18.38 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $7.27 billion, a P/E ratio of 7.38, a PEG ratio of 0.84 and a beta of 1.74. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $18.67 and a 200 day moving average of $19.13. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.28, a quick ratio of 1.50 and a current ratio of 2.50. NOV has a fifty-two week low of $14.05 and a fifty-two week high of $21.91.

NOV (NYSE:NOV) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 25th. The oil and gas exploration company reported $0.30 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.27 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $2.16 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.11 billion. NOV had a net margin of 11.23% and a return on equity of 10.21%. The company’s revenue was up 9.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.32 earnings per share. On average, research analysts expect that NOV will post 1.52 EPS for the current year.

NOV Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 28th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, March 14th were issued a dividend of $0.05 per share. This represents a $0.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.09%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, March 13th. NOV’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 8.03%.

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.