NOV Target of Unusually Large Options Trading (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 volume of 180 put options.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms recently commented on NOV. The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their target price on NOV from $16.00 to $13.00 and set a “sell” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, April 10th. Evercore ISI reiterated an “in-line” rating and issued a $18.00 price objective (down previously from $25.00) on shares of NOV in a report on Wednesday, January 15th. Raymond James boosted their target price on NOV from $18.00 to $19.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on NOV from $10.00 to $11.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a report on Thursday. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus cut their price objective on shares of NOV from $25.00 to $23.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, April 15th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $18.00.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On NOV

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted 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 purchasing an additional 1,934,243 shares in the last quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. grew its holdings in 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 in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in NOV by 4.7% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 6,697,650 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock valued at $97,815,000 after purchasing an additional 302,009 shares during the last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. raised its holdings in NOV by 40.7% in the fourth quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 5,718,408 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock valued at $83,489,000 after acquiring an additional 1,652,917 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Van ECK Associates Corp grew its stake in NOV by 22.1% in the fourth quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 5,182,044 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock worth $75,658,000 after purchasing an additional 938,866 shares in 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 $11.89 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.50 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 7.38, a PEG ratio of 1.02 and a beta of 1.35. 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 50-day simple moving average of $13.56 and a 200-day simple moving average of $14.72. NOV has a one year low of $10.84 and a one year high of $21.20.

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

NOV Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th were issued a $0.075 dividend. This represents a $0.30 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.52%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 14th. NOV’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 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.