Traders Buy Large Volume of NOV Put Options (NYSE:NOV)

NOV Inc. (NYSE:NOV) was the recipient of unusually large options trading on Wednesday. Traders acquired 2,616 put options on the stock. This is an increase of 1,353% compared to the typical volume of 180 put options.

NOV Stock Down 0.5 %

Shares of NYSE:NOV opened at $16.12 on Thursday. The stock has a market capitalization of $6.37 billion, a P/E ratio of 6.47, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.50 and a beta of 1.67. NOV has a 12-month low of $15.47 and a 12-month high of $21.53. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $17.41 and its 200-day moving average price is $18.28. The company has a current ratio of 2.61, a quick ratio of 1.64 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27.

NOV (NYSE:NOV) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 25th. The oil and gas exploration company reported $0.57 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.35 by $0.22. The firm had revenue of $2.22 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.19 billion. NOV had a net margin of 11.88% and a return on equity of 10.97%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.39 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts anticipate that NOV will post 1.63 earnings per share for the current year.

NOV Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 27th. Stockholders of record on Friday, September 13th were paid a dividend of $0.075 per share. This represents a $0.30 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.86%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, September 13th. NOV’s payout ratio is 12.05%.

Institutional Trading of NOV

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. American National Bank & Trust bought a new stake in NOV in the 3rd quarter worth about $39,000. Greenhaven Associates Inc. boosted its holdings in NOV by 13.1% in the 3rd quarter. Greenhaven Associates Inc. now owns 2,035,376 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock worth $32,505,000 after buying an additional 236,400 shares during the period. Point72 Asia Singapore Pte. Ltd. bought a new position in shares of NOV in the second quarter worth about $125,000. Sanctuary Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in NOV during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $285,000. Finally, Truist Financial Corp raised its position in shares of NOV by 3.4% during the second quarter. Truist Financial Corp now owns 29,729 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock valued at $565,000 after buying an additional 991 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 93.27% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have issued reports on the company. Bank of America dropped their price target on NOV from $24.00 to $22.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, July 15th. TD Cowen increased their price target on shares of NOV from $27.00 to $28.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, July 29th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered NOV from an “equal weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and reduced their price objective for the company from $20.00 to $16.00 in a report on Wednesday, September 25th. Benchmark reiterated a “hold” rating on shares of NOV in a research note on Friday, July 26th. Finally, Evercore ISI upgraded 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 issued a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $24.00.

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.