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

NOV Inc. (NYSE:NOV) was the target of some unusual options trading activity on Wednesday. Stock investors bought 2,616 put options on the stock. This is an increase of approximately 1,353% compared to the average daily volume of 180 put options.

Insider Activity at NOV

In other NOV news, Director David D. Harrison sold 1,784 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $16.10, for a total value of $28,722.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 110,951 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,786,311.10. This represents a 1.58 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. 1.85% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On NOV

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Creative Planning grew its position in NOV by 29.8% in the 2nd quarter. Creative Planning now owns 33,815 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock valued at $643,000 after purchasing an additional 7,757 shares during the period. Truist Financial Corp grew its holdings 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. Sanctuary Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of NOV during the second quarter worth about $285,000. Diversified Trust Co acquired a new stake in shares of NOV in the 3rd quarter worth about $595,000. Finally, nVerses Capital LLC bought a new position in NOV in the 3rd quarter valued at about $487,000. Institutional investors own 93.27% of the company’s stock.

NOV Stock Performance

Shares of NOV stock opened at $16.41 on Thursday. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $14.93 and a 200-day moving average of $16.16. The company has a market cap of $6.38 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 6.05, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.93 and a beta of 1.64. The company has a quick ratio of 1.65, a current ratio of 2.57 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26. NOV has a 52 week low of $13.94 and a 52 week high of $21.20.

NOV (NYSE:NOV) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The oil and gas exploration company reported $0.41 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.35 by $0.06. NOV had a net margin of 12.05% and a return on equity of 10.82%. On average, equities analysts forecast that NOV will post 1.53 earnings per share for the current year.

NOV Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 20th. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 6th were issued a $0.075 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, December 6th. This represents a $0.30 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.83%. NOV’s payout ratio is currently 11.07%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Susquehanna dropped their price objective on shares of NOV from $22.00 to $21.00 and set a “positive” rating for the company in a report on Monday, October 28th. ATB Capital reaffirmed a “sector perform” rating and set a $19.00 price target on shares of NOV in a research note on Tuesday, December 10th. Citigroup cut shares of NOV from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and reduced their price objective for the stock from $21.00 to $18.00 in a research note on Monday, November 11th. Evercore ISI reaffirmed an “in-line” rating and set a $18.00 target price (down from $25.00) on shares of NOV in a research report on Wednesday, January 15th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price target on NOV from $16.00 to $15.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, November 4th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, NOV currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $19.64.

NOV Company 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.