Stock Traders Buy High Volume of NOV Call Options (NYSE:NOV)

NOV Inc. (NYSE:NOV) was the recipient of unusually large options trading on Monday. Traders acquired 20,108 call options on the stock. This represents an increase of 1,464% compared to the typical daily volume of 1,286 call options.

NOV Price Performance

NYSE:NOV opened at $11.94 on Tuesday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.64, a current ratio of 2.46 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26. NOV has a 12-month low of $11.24 and a 12-month high of $21.20. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $14.85 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $15.29. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.55 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 7.41, a P/E/G ratio of 1.02 and a beta of 1.35.

NOV (NYSE:NOV) last released 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 7.16% and a return on equity of 9.88%. On average, analysts anticipate that NOV will post 1.4 earnings per share for the current year.

NOV Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 28th. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th were paid a $0.075 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 14th. This represents a $0.30 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.51%. NOV’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 18.63%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

NOV has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. ATB Capital restated a “sector perform” rating and issued a $19.00 price target on shares of NOV in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. Piper Sandler increased their target price on NOV from $17.00 to $18.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, February 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 increased their price objective on shares of NOV from $18.00 to $19.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. Finally, Evercore ISI reaffirmed an “in-line” rating and issued a $18.00 price objective (down from $25.00) on shares of NOV in a research report on Wednesday, January 15th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $19.60.

Institutional Trading of NOV

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of NOV. Pacer Advisors Inc. increased its holdings in shares of NOV by 12,344.0% during the fourth quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 12,309,433 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock worth $179,718,000 after purchasing an additional 12,210,514 shares during the period. First Pacific Advisors LP bought a new position in NOV during the 4th quarter worth $39,495,000. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its holdings in NOV by 13.0% in 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 acquiring an additional 1,934,243 shares in the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of 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 valued at $55,248,000 after acquiring an additional 1,748,816 shares during the period. Finally, Ameriprise Financial Inc. grew its holdings in shares of NOV by 40.7% during the 4th quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 5,718,408 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock worth $83,489,000 after purchasing an additional 1,652,917 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.