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

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

NOV has been the subject of several research reports. Bank of America decreased their target price on NOV from $22.00 to $20.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, October 14th. Wells Fargo & Company cut their target price on NOV from $16.00 to $15.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, November 4th. Seaport Res Ptn downgraded NOV from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Sunday, January 5th. TD Cowen dropped their price objective on NOV from $28.00 to $22.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, October 28th. Finally, Atb Cap Markets downgraded NOV from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 10th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $20.00.

Insider Activity at NOV

In other NOV news, Director David D. Harrison sold 1,784 shares of NOV stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $16.10, for a total transaction of $28,722.40. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 110,951 shares in the company, valued at $1,786,311.10. The trade was a 1.58 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Company insiders own 1.85% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of NOV. Truist Financial Corp boosted its stake in shares of NOV by 3.4% during the 2nd quarter. Truist Financial Corp now owns 29,729 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock worth $565,000 after acquiring an additional 991 shares in the last quarter. HM Payson & Co. raised its holdings in NOV by 2.1% in the 3rd quarter. HM Payson & Co. now owns 49,000 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock valued at $783,000 after acquiring an additional 1,000 shares in the last quarter. KBC Group NV grew its stake in shares of NOV by 11.8% in the 3rd quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 11,060 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock valued at $177,000 after purchasing an additional 1,163 shares during the period. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC grew its stake in shares of NOV by 2.3% in the 2nd quarter. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC now owns 51,567 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock valued at $980,000 after purchasing an additional 1,164 shares during the period. Finally, Verum Partners LLC increased its holdings in NOV by 9.0% during the 4th quarter. Verum Partners LLC now owns 15,050 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock valued at $220,000 after purchasing an additional 1,248 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 93.27% of the company’s stock.

NOV Stock Performance

Shares of NOV stock opened at $14.90 on Friday. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $15.19 and its 200-day simple moving average is $16.42. 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 $13.94 and a 1-year high of $21.23. The company has a market capitalization of $5.80 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 5.50, a P/E/G ratio of 0.98 and a beta of 1.66.

NOV Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 20th. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 6th were paid a $0.075 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, December 6th. This represents a $0.30 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.01%. NOV’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 11.07%.

NOV Company Profile

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.