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

NOV Inc. (NYSE:NOV) was the target of some unusual options trading on Wednesday. Traders bought 2,616 put options on the company. This represents an increase of 1,353% compared to the typical volume of 180 put options.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have recently commented on NOV shares. Piper Sandler boosted their target price on shares of NOV from $17.00 to $18.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, February 9th. Susquehanna reaffirmed a “positive” rating and issued a $21.00 price target on shares of NOV in a research note on Friday, February 6th. TD Cowen cut NOV from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 10th. Royal Bank Of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $21.00 target price on shares of NOV in a report on Thursday, January 15th. Finally, Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of NOV in a research report on Friday, March 27th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, ten have issued a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $18.57.

NOV Stock Performance

NYSE NOV opened at $18.68 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27, a quick ratio of 1.67 and a current ratio of 2.42. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $19.12 and its two-hundred day moving average is $16.46. The firm has a market capitalization of $6.73 billion, a P/E ratio of 49.16 and a beta of 0.89. NOV has a fifty-two week low of $10.84 and a fifty-two week high of $20.85.

NOV (NYSE:NOV) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, February 5th. The oil and gas exploration company reported $0.02 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.25 by ($0.23). NOV had a return on equity of 3.57% and a net margin of 1.66%.The company had revenue of $2.28 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.17 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.41 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was down 1.3% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts anticipate that NOV will post 1.4 earnings per share for the current year.

NOV Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 27th. Investors of record on Friday, March 13th were given a dividend of $0.09 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 13th. This is an increase from NOV’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.08. This represents a $0.36 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.9%. NOV’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 94.74%.

Insider Activity at NOV

In related news, insider Joseph W. Rovig sold 151,086 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $20.17, for a total value of $3,047,404.62. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 269,694 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,439,727.98. The trade was a 35.91% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, VP Craig L. Weinstock sold 70,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $20.08, for a total transaction of $1,405,600.00. Following the transaction, the vice president owned 256,319 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,146,885.52. This represents a 21.45% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Corporate insiders own 2.08% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of NOV

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its position in shares of NOV by 2.1% during the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 18,972,635 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock valued at $296,547,000 after buying an additional 394,582 shares during the period. American Century Companies Inc. grew its position in NOV by 43.6% in the third quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 7,596,504 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock worth $100,654,000 after acquiring an additional 2,304,975 shares during the period. First Trust Advisors LP grew its position in NOV by 0.4% in the fourth quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 7,033,947 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock worth $109,941,000 after acquiring an additional 25,610 shares during the period. Greenhaven Associates Inc. increased its stake in NOV by 15.4% during the third quarter. Greenhaven Associates Inc. now owns 5,747,682 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock worth $76,157,000 after acquiring an additional 765,166 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bank of America Corp DE raised its position in NOV by 14.8% in the third quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 5,346,302 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock valued at $70,839,000 after purchasing an additional 689,427 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 93.27% of the company’s stock.

About NOV

National Oilwell Varco (NYSE: NOV) is a leading provider of equipment and technology to the oil and gas industry. The company designs, manufactures and services an extensive portfolio of products used in drilling, completion and production operations. Its offerings include drilling rigs and related components, wellbore technologies such as tubulars and completion tools, surface equipment including mud pumps and blowout preventers, and aftermarket parts and services that support ongoing field operations.

NOV’s business is organized to serve upstream energy companies around the world.