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

NOV Inc. (NYSE:NOV) was the target of some unusual options trading activity on Wednesday. Stock 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.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On NOV

Large investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Pacer Advisors Inc. lifted its position 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 worth $179,718,000 after buying an additional 12,210,514 shares during the last quarter. First Pacific Advisors LP acquired a new stake in shares of NOV in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $39,495,000. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its holdings in shares of NOV by 13.0% during the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 16,793,128 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock valued at $245,178,000 after purchasing an additional 1,934,243 shares during the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC increased its position in NOV by 85.9% during the 4th quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 3,784,096 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock worth $55,248,000 after purchasing an additional 1,748,816 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Ameriprise Financial Inc. grew its stake in shares of NOV by 40.7% during the fourth quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 5,718,408 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock worth $83,489,000 after buying an additional 1,652,917 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 93.27% of the company’s stock.

NOV Price Performance

Shares of NYSE NOV opened at $11.63 on Thursday. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.40 billion, a PE ratio of 7.22, a P/E/G ratio of 1.02 and a beta of 1.35. NOV has a fifty-two week low of $10.84 and a fifty-two week 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 fifty day moving average price of $13.62 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $14.75.

NOV (NYSE:NOV) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Monday, April 28th. The oil and gas exploration company reported $0.19 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.25 by ($0.06). The firm had revenue of $2.10 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.11 billion. NOV had a return on equity of 9.88% and a net margin of 7.16%. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 2.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.30 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts predict that NOV will post 1.4 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

NOV Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th were given a dividend of $0.075 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 14th. This represents a $0.30 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.58%. NOV’s dividend payout ratio is currently 18.63%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts have issued reports on the stock. Evercore ISI reaffirmed an “in-line” rating and set a $18.00 price target (down from $25.00) on shares of NOV in a research report on Wednesday, January 15th. Barclays dropped their target price on shares of NOV from $13.00 to $11.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday. Raymond James lifted their price target on NOV from $18.00 to $19.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, February 6th. Seaport Res Ptn lowered NOV from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Sunday, January 5th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their target price on NOV from $20.00 to $17.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, NOV has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $18.38.

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.