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

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

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Christian S. Kendall purchased 70,000 shares of NOV stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 21st. The shares were acquired at an average price of $14.46 per share, for a total transaction of $1,012,200.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 85,949 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,242,822.54. This represents a 438.90% increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. 2.08% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Gateway Investment Advisers LLC boosted its stake in NOV by 1,845.9% in the 3rd quarter. Gateway Investment Advisers LLC now owns 235,081 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock worth $3,115,000 after purchasing an additional 223,000 shares during the period. Voya Investment Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of NOV by 239.0% in the third quarter. Voya Investment Management LLC now owns 141,506 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock valued at $1,875,000 after purchasing an additional 99,765 shares in the last quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC boosted its position in shares of NOV by 111.3% during the second quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC now owns 476,044 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock worth $6,006,000 after buying an additional 250,705 shares during the period. Canandaigua National Bank & Trust Co. grew its holdings in shares of NOV by 76.7% during the third quarter. Canandaigua National Bank & Trust Co. now owns 178,816 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock worth $2,369,000 after buying an additional 77,605 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Mackenzie Financial Corp acquired a new stake in NOV in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $3,062,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 93.27% of the company’s stock.

NOV Price Performance

NOV opened at $18.41 on Thursday. The stock has a market cap of $6.71 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.41, a P/E/G ratio of 4.68 and a beta of 0.95. NOV has a 12 month low of $10.84 and a 12 month high of $18.50. The company has a quick ratio of 1.71, a current ratio of 2.55 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $16.15 and a 200 day simple moving average of $14.28.

NOV (NYSE:NOV) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, October 28th. The oil and gas exploration company reported $0.11 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.24 by ($0.13). NOV had a net margin of 4.36% and a return on equity of 5.89%. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.33 earnings per share. NOV’s revenue was down .7% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts expect that NOV will post 1.4 EPS for the current year.

NOV Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 19th. Investors of record on Friday, December 5th were paid a dividend of $0.075 per share. This represents a $0.30 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.6%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, December 5th. NOV’s dividend payout ratio is presently 30.00%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on NOV. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c)” rating on shares of NOV in a research note on Monday, December 29th. Susquehanna upped their target price on shares of NOV from $17.00 to $20.00 and gave the company a “positive” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 7th. Citigroup raised their target price on shares of NOV from $16.00 to $17.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 11th. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price target on shares of NOV from $17.00 to $19.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 29th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $21.00 price objective on shares of NOV in a report on Thursday, January 15th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, six have assigned a Hold rating and three have issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $16.92.

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.