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

NOV Inc. (NYSE:NOV) saw unusually large options trading activity on Wednesday. Investors bought 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.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On NOV

Large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Huntington National Bank boosted its holdings in NOV by 88.7% in the fourth quarter. Huntington National Bank now owns 2,200 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock valued at $32,000 after acquiring an additional 1,034 shares during the last quarter. Covestor Ltd boosted its stake in shares of NOV by 282.9% during the 4th quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 2,240 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock valued at $33,000 after buying an additional 1,655 shares during the last quarter. UMB Bank n.a. increased its stake in shares of NOV by 222.3% in the fourth quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 2,337 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock worth $34,000 after buying an additional 1,612 shares during the last quarter. Quarry LP bought a new position in NOV during the 3rd quarter valued at $36,000. Finally, Signaturefd LLC grew its holdings in NOV by 41.3% during the 4th quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 2,587 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock worth $38,000 after acquiring an additional 756 shares in the last quarter. 93.27% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have recently weighed in on NOV shares. Atb Cap Markets downgraded shares of NOV from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. Piper Sandler lifted their price objective on NOV from $17.00 to $18.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, February 10th. Seaport Res Ptn downgraded NOV from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Sunday, January 5th. ATB Capital reaffirmed a “sector perform” rating and set a $19.00 price objective on shares of NOV in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. Finally, Barclays raised their target price on NOV from $12.00 to $13.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 18th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, NOV currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $19.60.

NOV Trading Down 0.5 %

Shares of NOV stock opened at $15.34 on Thursday. NOV has a 1 year low of $13.78 and a 1 year high of $21.20. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26, a current ratio of 2.46 and a quick ratio of 1.64. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $15.00 and a 200 day moving average price of $15.38. The company has a market capitalization of $5.84 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.53, a P/E/G ratio of 1.02 and a beta of 1.34.

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

NOV Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th were given a $0.075 dividend. This represents a $0.30 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.96%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 14th. NOV’s dividend payout ratio is currently 18.63%.

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.