Investors Purchase High Volume of NOV Put Options (NYSE:NOV)

NOV Inc. (NYSE:NOV) was the target of some unusual options trading activity on Wednesday. Investors acquired 2,616 put options on the company. This represents an increase of 1,353% compared to the average daily volume of 180 put options.

NOV Trading Up 0.8 %

Shares of NOV stock opened at $14.28 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of $5.44 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.87, a P/E/G ratio of 1.02 and a beta of 1.66. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26, a quick ratio of 1.64 and a current ratio of 2.46. The company has a fifty day moving average of $15.00 and a 200 day moving average of $15.70. NOV has a fifty-two week low of $13.77 and a fifty-two week high of $21.20.

NOV (NYSE:NOV) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The oil and gas exploration company reported $0.41 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.35 by $0.06. NOV had a net margin of 7.16% and a return on equity of 9.88%. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that NOV will post 1.4 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

NOV Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be issued a dividend of $0.075 per share. This represents a $0.30 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.10%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. NOV’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 18.63%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on the stock. Piper Sandler boosted their target price on shares of NOV from $17.00 to $18.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, February 10th. ATB Capital reiterated a “sector perform” rating and set a $19.00 target price on shares of NOV in a research note on Tuesday, December 10th. Seaport Res Ptn lowered shares of NOV from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Sunday, January 5th. Raymond James boosted their target price on shares of NOV from $18.00 to $19.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. Finally, Evercore ISI reiterated an “in-line” rating and set a $18.00 target price (down from $25.00) on shares of NOV in a research note on Wednesday, January 15th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $19.60.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in NOV. Pacer Advisors Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of NOV by 12,344.0% during the 4th quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 12,309,433 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock valued at $179,718,000 after purchasing an additional 12,210,514 shares during the last quarter. Pzena Investment Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of NOV by 22.3% during the 3rd quarter. Pzena Investment Management LLC now owns 43,027,106 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock valued at $687,143,000 after purchasing an additional 7,851,220 shares during the last quarter. Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of NOV by 23.1% during the 3rd quarter. Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC now owns 37,153,173 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock valued at $593,336,000 after purchasing an additional 6,963,660 shares during the last quarter. First Pacific Advisors LP bought a new position in shares of NOV during the 4th quarter valued at about $39,495,000. Finally, Weiss Asset Management LP bought a new position in shares of NOV in the 3rd quarter valued at about $35,709,000. Institutional investors own 93.27% of the company’s stock.

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.