Stock Traders Purchase High Volume of NOV Put Options (NYSE:NOV)
by Sarita Garza · The Markets DailyNOV Inc. (NYSE:NOV – Get Free Report) saw some unusual options trading activity on Wednesday. Investors acquired 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 recently commented on NOV. Morgan Stanley set a $16.00 price objective on NOV in a report on Monday, December 15th. Barclays raised their target price on shares of NOV from $13.00 to $15.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 17th. Royal Bank Of Canada boosted their target price on shares of NOV from $17.00 to $19.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 29th. Piper Sandler raised their price target on NOV from $14.00 to $17.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 18th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price objective on NOV from $12.00 to $14.00 and gave the stock a “sell” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 5th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, six have assigned a Hold rating and three have given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, NOV currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $16.54.
View Our Latest Stock Analysis on NOV
Insiders Place Their Bets
In other NOV news, Director Christian S. Kendall bought 70,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, November 21st. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $14.46 per share, for a total transaction of $1,012,200.00. Following the purchase, the director owned 85,949 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,242,822.54. This trade represents a 438.90% increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 2.08% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.
Institutional Investors Weigh In On NOV
Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Park Avenue Securities LLC boosted its position in shares of NOV by 7.3% in the fourth quarter. Park Avenue Securities LLC now owns 19,206 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock worth $300,000 after purchasing an additional 1,302 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its stake in shares of NOV by 25.4% during the 4th quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 9,796 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock valued at $153,000 after buying an additional 1,985 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its holdings in NOV by 5.3% in the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 924,525 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock worth $12,250,000 after buying an additional 46,340 shares during the period. Swiss Life Asset Management Ltd purchased a new stake in NOV in the 3rd quarter worth $232,000. Finally, CIBC Bancorp USA Inc. bought a new stake in NOV during the third quarter valued at about $3,710,000. Institutional investors own 93.27% of the company’s stock.
NOV Trading Down 0.4%
Shares of NOV stock opened at $16.84 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26, a current ratio of 2.55 and a quick ratio of 1.71. The company has a market cap of $6.14 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.84, a PEG ratio of 4.51 and a beta of 0.95. NOV has a 1 year low of $10.84 and a 1 year high of $17.80. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $15.64 and a 200-day moving average price of $13.95.
NOV (NYSE:NOV – Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, October 28th. The oil and gas exploration company reported $0.11 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.24 by ($0.13). NOV had a net margin of 4.36% and a return on equity of 5.89%. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.33 EPS. NOV’s revenue was down .7% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts predict that NOV will post 1.4 earnings per share for the current year.
NOV Announces Dividend
The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 19th. Investors of record on Friday, December 5th were paid a dividend of $0.075 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, December 5th. This represents a $0.30 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.8%. NOV’s payout ratio is 30.00%.
About NOV
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.