Stock Traders Purchase Large Volume of NOV Put Options (NYSE:NOV)

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

Hedge Funds Weigh In On NOV

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Pzena Investment Management LLC raised its stake in NOV by 0.3% during the 2nd quarter. Pzena Investment Management LLC now owns 35,175,886 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock valued at $668,694,000 after acquiring an additional 103,238 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its holdings in shares of NOV by 40.0% during the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 12,138,093 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock valued at $230,743,000 after purchasing an additional 3,470,860 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its stake in shares of NOV by 67.2% during the second quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 9,928,911 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock valued at $188,749,000 after purchasing an additional 3,989,095 shares in the last quarter. Boston Partners acquired a new stake in NOV in the first quarter worth about $119,686,000. Finally, AQR Capital Management LLC grew its position in NOV by 232.6% in the 2nd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 4,888,891 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock valued at $92,938,000 after buying an additional 3,418,885 shares in the last quarter. 93.27% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

NOV Price Performance

Shares of NYSE NOV opened at $15.69 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27, a current ratio of 2.61 and a quick ratio of 1.64. The firm has a market capitalization of $6.20 billion, a PE ratio of 6.30, a P/E/G ratio of 0.47 and a beta of 1.67. NOV has a 1-year low of $15.47 and a 1-year high of $21.53. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $16.83 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $18.07.

NOV (NYSE:NOV) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 25th. The oil and gas exploration company reported $0.57 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.35 by $0.22. The business had revenue of $2.22 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.19 billion. NOV had a net margin of 11.88% and a return on equity of 10.97%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.39 EPS. On average, research analysts expect that NOV will post 1.64 EPS for the current year.

NOV Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 27th. Stockholders of record on Friday, September 13th were issued a dividend of $0.075 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, September 13th. This represents a $0.30 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.91%. NOV’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 12.05%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

NOV has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Citigroup dropped their price target on shares of NOV from $24.00 to $21.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, October 3rd. Wells Fargo & Company lowered shares of NOV from an “equal weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and cut their target price for the company from $20.00 to $16.00 in a research note on Wednesday, September 25th. Piper Sandler decreased their price target on NOV from $22.00 to $20.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, July 15th. Barclays lowered their price objective on NOV from $20.00 to $17.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday. Finally, Benchmark reaffirmed a “hold” rating on shares of NOV in a report on Friday, July 26th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating, nine have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, NOV has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $22.57.

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.