Investors Buy High Volume of NOV Call Options (NYSE:NOV)

NOV Inc. (NYSE:NOV - Get Free Report) was the target of unusually large options trading on Tuesday. Stock traders purchased 8,161 call options on the stock. This is an increase of 371% compared to the average daily volume of 1,731 call options.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

NOV has been the subject of several analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price objective on NOV from $23.00 to $22.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, October 3rd. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price objective on NOV from $16.00 to $15.00 and set an "underweight" rating for the company in a research report on Monday, November 4th. Morgan Stanley reduced their target price on NOV from $25.00 to $23.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a report on Monday, September 16th. Citigroup downgraded NOV from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and reduced their target price for the company from $21.00 to $18.00 in a report on Monday, November 11th. Finally, Bank of America reduced their target price on NOV from $22.00 to $20.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Monday, October 14th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating, eight have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $21.64.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On NOV

A number of large investors have recently bought and sold shares of NOV. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC grew its holdings in NOV by 41.6% during the 1st quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC now owns 19,223 shares of the oil and gas exploration company's stock valued at $375,000 after buying an additional 5,646 shares during the last quarter. Edgestream Partners L.P. acquired a new stake in NOV during the 1st quarter valued at $314,000. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC acquired a new stake in NOV during the 1st quarter valued at $277,000. Advisors Asset Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of NOV by 110.0% during the 1st quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. now owns 14,903 shares of the oil and gas exploration company's stock worth $291,000 after purchasing an additional 7,806 shares during the period. Finally, Ariel Investments LLC lifted its stake in shares of NOV by 33.5% during the 1st quarter. Ariel Investments LLC now owns 2,122,818 shares of the oil and gas exploration company's stock worth $41,437,000 after purchasing an additional 533,052 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 93.27% of the company's stock.

NOV Price Performance

Shares of NOV traded down $0.01 on Tuesday, reaching $15.99. The stock had a trading volume of 4,323,443 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,714,264. The firm has a market capitalization of $6.22 billion, a PE ratio of 5.90, a PEG ratio of 0.93 and a beta of 1.66. The company has a quick ratio of 1.65, a current ratio of 2.57 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $16.02 and a 200 day moving average of $17.47. NOV has a twelve month low of $14.98 and a twelve month high of $21.23.

NOV Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 20th. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 6th will be issued a dividend of $0.075 per share. This represents a $0.30 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.88%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 6th. NOV's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 11.07%.

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.