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

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

Insider Activity

In related news, insider Joseph W. Rovig sold 151,086 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the insider directly owned 269,694 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,439,727.98. This trade represents a 35.91% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, VP Craig L. Weinstock sold 70,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $20.08, for a total value of $1,405,600.00. Following the sale, the vice president owned 256,319 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,146,885.52. The trade was a 21.45% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders own 2.08% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On NOV

Institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. V Square Quantitative Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of NOV in the fourth quarter valued at $28,000. CoreFirst Bank & Trust bought a new stake in NOV in the second quarter worth about $35,000. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC lifted its holdings in NOV by 659.3% in the 4th quarter. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC now owns 2,278 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock valued at $36,000 after acquiring an additional 1,978 shares during the last quarter. Rothschild Investment LLC boosted its position in shares of NOV by 50.1% during the 4th quarter. Rothschild Investment LLC now owns 2,337 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock valued at $37,000 after purchasing an additional 780 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Allworth Financial LP boosted its position in shares of NOV by 37.9% in the 4th quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 2,578 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock valued at $40,000 after purchasing an additional 709 shares during the period. 93.27% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on NOV. Susquehanna restated a “positive” rating and set a $21.00 price target on shares of NOV in a report on Friday, February 6th. Evercore set a $19.00 price target on shares of NOV in a research report on Friday, February 6th. Stifel Nicolaus raised their target price on shares of NOV from $19.00 to $21.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, February 6th. Citigroup increased their price objective on NOV from $17.00 to $20.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 11th. Finally, Barclays raised shares of NOV from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and boosted their price target for the company from $15.00 to $20.00 in a research report on Wednesday, February 4th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, nine have given a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $18.57.

NOV Trading Down 3.0%

Shares of NYSE:NOV traded down $0.59 during trading on Thursday, reaching $18.92. The stock had a trading volume of 2,627,443 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,917,052. NOV has a fifty-two week low of $10.84 and a fifty-two week high of $20.85. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $18.35 and a 200-day moving average price of $15.64. The company has a quick ratio of 1.67, a current ratio of 2.42 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27. The stock has a market cap of $6.82 billion, a P/E ratio of 49.79 and a beta of 0.89.

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

NOV Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 27th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 13th will be issued a dividend of $0.09 per share. This represents a $0.36 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.9%. This is a positive change from NOV’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.08. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 13th. NOV’s dividend payout ratio is presently 94.74%.

NOV Company Profile

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.