NOV Sees Unusually High Options Volume (NYSE:NOV)

NOV Inc. (NYSE:NOV) was the target of some unusual options trading on Friday. Stock traders purchased 20,436 call options on the company. This is an increase of 1,950% compared to the typical volume of 997 call options.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have weighed in on NOV shares. Raymond James dropped their price objective on NOV from $28.00 to $25.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Monday, February 5th. Benchmark cut NOV from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 16th. Royal Bank of Canada reissued a “sector perform” rating and set a $24.00 price objective on shares of NOV in a report on Tuesday, February 6th. Stifel Nicolaus dropped their price objective on NOV from $28.00 to $26.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Monday, February 5th. Finally, TD Cowen dropped their price objective on NOV from $31.00 to $30.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Monday, February 5th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $24.36.

Insider Activity at NOV

In related news, CAO Christy Lynn Novak sold 3,500 shares of NOV stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $17.43, for a total value of $61,005.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 114,212 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,990,715.16. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. 1.85% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On NOV

Large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. CENTRAL TRUST Co boosted its position in NOV by 85.4% during the 3rd quarter. CENTRAL TRUST Co now owns 1,259 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock worth $26,000 after acquiring an additional 580 shares during the last quarter. Rise Advisors LLC acquired a new position in NOV during the 1st quarter worth approximately $26,000. Riverview Trust Co acquired a new position in NOV during the 1st quarter worth approximately $39,000. Bruce G. Allen Investments LLC acquired a new position in NOV during the 4th quarter worth approximately $49,000. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC acquired a new position in NOV during the 4th quarter worth approximately $61,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 93.27% of the company’s stock.

NOV Price Performance

Shares of NOV opened at $18.87 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27, a quick ratio of 1.51 and a current ratio of 2.40. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $18.60 and a 200 day simple moving average of $19.16. NOV has a 52-week low of $14.05 and a 52-week high of $21.91. The firm has a market capitalization of $7.46 billion, a PE ratio of 7.52, a P/E/G ratio of 0.82 and a beta of 1.74.

NOV (NYSE:NOV) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 25th. The oil and gas exploration company reported $0.30 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.27 by $0.03. NOV had a return on equity of 10.79% and a net margin of 11.57%. The business had revenue of $2.16 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.11 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.32 EPS. NOV’s quarterly revenue was up 9.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts predict that NOV will post 1.52 EPS for the current fiscal year.

NOV Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 28th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, March 14th were given a dividend of $0.05 per share. This represents a $0.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.06%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, March 13th. NOV’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 7.97%.

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.