NOV Target of Unusually Large Options Trading (NYSE:NOV)

NOV Inc. (NYSE:NOV) was the recipient of some unusual options trading on Wednesday. Investors purchased 2,616 put options on the stock. This represents an increase of approximately 1,353% compared to the typical daily volume of 180 put options.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On NOV

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of NOV by 95.2% in the 4th quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 879,960 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock worth $17,846,000 after acquiring an additional 429,104 shares during the last quarter. Wintrust Investments LLC grew its holdings in shares of NOV by 631.6% in the 1st quarter. Wintrust Investments LLC now owns 81,943 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock worth $1,600,000 after acquiring an additional 70,743 shares during the last quarter. Stanley Laman Group Ltd. purchased a new position in shares of NOV during the second quarter valued at $4,031,000. Schroder Investment Management Group boosted its position in NOV by 71.3% during the fourth quarter. Schroder Investment Management Group now owns 1,092,422 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock valued at $22,154,000 after purchasing an additional 454,665 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC boosted its position in NOV by 1.1% during the first quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 3,883,885 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock valued at $75,813,000 after purchasing an additional 42,717 shares during the last quarter. 93.27% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts have issued reports on NOV shares. Royal Bank of Canada restated a “sector perform” rating and set a $24.00 price objective on shares of NOV in a research note on Monday, July 29th. Citigroup dropped their price target on NOV from $24.00 to $21.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday. Morgan Stanley dropped their price target on NOV from $25.00 to $23.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, September 16th. Benchmark reiterated a “hold” rating on shares of NOV in a research report on Friday, July 26th. Finally, Evercore ISI upgraded NOV to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, July 26th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating, nine have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $23.54.

NOV Stock Up 1.8 %

Shares of NOV stock opened at $16.41 on Friday. NOV has a 1 year low of $15.47 and a 1 year high of $21.53. The stock has a market cap of $6.49 billion, a PE ratio of 6.59, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.50 and a beta of 1.67. The business’s fifty day moving average is $17.41 and its 200-day moving average is $18.28. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27, a quick ratio of 1.64 and a current ratio of 2.61.

NOV (NYSE:NOV) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 25th. The oil and gas exploration company reported $0.57 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.35 by $0.22. NOV had a return on equity of 10.97% and a net margin of 11.88%. The company had revenue of $2.22 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.19 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.39 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.9% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts expect that NOV will post 1.63 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

NOV Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 27th. Stockholders of record on Friday, September 13th were given a dividend of $0.075 per share. This represents a $0.30 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.83%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, September 13th. NOV’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 12.05%.

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.