NOV Target of Unusually High Options Trading (NYSE:NOV)

NOV Inc. (NYSE:NOV) was the recipient of unusually large options trading on Wednesday. Investors purchased 2,616 put options on the stock. This represents an increase of 1,353% compared to the average volume of 180 put options.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages recently issued reports on NOV. Piper Sandler reduced their price objective on NOV from $18.00 to $16.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Stifel Nicolaus reduced their price objective on NOV from $25.00 to $23.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, April 15th. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price objective on NOV from $11.00 to $10.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, June 5th. The Goldman Sachs Group reduced their price objective on NOV from $16.00 to $13.00 and set a “sell” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 10th. Finally, Barclays reduced their price objective on NOV from $13.00 to $11.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 30th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $17.44.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D boosted its stake in NOV by 2.7% during the fourth quarter. State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D now owns 131,280 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock valued at $1,917,000 after buying an additional 3,421 shares in the last quarter. Sanctuary Advisors LLC boosted its stake in NOV by 51.9% during the fourth quarter. Sanctuary Advisors LLC now owns 22,959 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock valued at $332,000 after buying an additional 7,840 shares in the last quarter. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund bought a new position in NOV during the fourth quarter valued at about $1,018,000. Proficio Capital Partners LLC bought a new position in NOV during the fourth quarter valued at about $341,000. Finally, Versor Investments LP bought a new position in NOV during the fourth quarter valued at about $195,000. 93.27% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

NOV Price Performance

Shares of NOV opened at $12.85 on Thursday. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.83 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.57, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.24 and a beta of 1.28. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26, a quick ratio of 1.76 and a current ratio of 2.65. NOV has a one year low of $10.84 and a one year high of $21.20. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $12.60 and its 200-day moving average is $13.88.

NOV (NYSE:NOV) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Monday, April 28th. The oil and gas exploration company reported $0.19 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.25 by ($0.06). The business had revenue of $2.10 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.11 billion. NOV had a net margin of 6.68% and a return on equity of 9.11%. NOV’s revenue for the quarter was down 2.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.30 earnings per share. Equities analysts anticipate that NOV will post 1.4 EPS for the current year.

NOV Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 13th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, June 3rd were issued a dividend of $0.21 per share. This represents a dividend yield of 3.63%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 2nd. NOV’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 20.00%.

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.