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

NOV Inc. (NYSE:NOV) was the recipient of unusually large options trading activity on Wednesday. Stock investors bought 2,616 put options on the stock. This is an increase of approximately 1,353% compared to the average daily volume of 180 put options.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have recently issued reports on NOV. Susquehanna dropped their price objective on shares of NOV from $22.00 to $21.00 and set a “positive” rating for the company in a research report on Monday. Citigroup reduced their price objective on shares of NOV from $24.00 to $21.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, October 3rd. Evercore ISI upgraded shares of NOV to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, July 26th. TD Cowen lowered their target price on shares of NOV from $28.00 to $22.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus lowered their price objective on shares of NOV from $25.00 to $24.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating, nine have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $21.93.

NOV Stock Performance

NOV stock opened at $15.51 on Thursday. The company has a current ratio of 2.57, a quick ratio of 1.65 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26. NOV has a 1 year low of $14.98 and a 1 year high of $21.23. The company has a market cap of $6.10 billion, a PE ratio of 5.72, a PEG ratio of 0.91 and a beta of 1.67. The company’s 50-day moving average is $16.36 and its two-hundred day moving average is $17.74.

NOV Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 27th. Stockholders of record on Friday, September 13th were paid a $0.075 dividend. 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 1.93%. NOV’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 11.07%.

Institutional Trading of NOV

A number of large investors have recently bought and sold shares of NOV. Boston Partners bought a new stake in NOV during the 1st quarter worth approximately $119,686,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp boosted its position in NOV by 67.2% during the 2nd quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 9,928,911 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock worth $188,749,000 after acquiring an additional 3,989,095 shares during the last quarter. Pzena Investment Management LLC boosted its position in NOV by 12.7% during the 1st quarter. Pzena Investment Management LLC now owns 35,072,648 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock worth $684,618,000 after acquiring an additional 3,946,504 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its position in NOV by 40.0% during the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 12,138,093 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock worth $230,743,000 after acquiring an additional 3,470,860 shares during the last quarter. Finally, AQR Capital Management LLC boosted its position in NOV by 232.6% during the 2nd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 4,888,891 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock worth $92,938,000 after acquiring an additional 3,418,885 shares during the last quarter. 93.27% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.