Stock Traders Purchase High Volume of NOV Put Options (NYSE:NOV)

NOV Inc. (NYSE:NOV - Get Free Report) was the recipient of unusually large options trading on Wednesday. Investors bought 2,616 put options on the stock. This is an increase of approximately 1,353% compared to the average volume of 180 put options.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director David D. Harrison sold 1,784 shares of NOV stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $16.10, for a total transaction of $28,722.40. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 110,951 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,786,311.10. The trade was a 1.58 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 1.85% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On NOV

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. increased its holdings in NOV by 10.8% in the fourth quarter. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 581,446 shares of the oil and gas exploration company's stock worth $8,489,000 after buying an additional 56,665 shares during the last quarter. Barclays PLC grew its position in NOV by 120.1% in the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 473,545 shares of the oil and gas exploration company's stock worth $7,561,000 after acquiring an additional 258,392 shares in the last quarter. Greenhaven Associates Inc. increased its stake in shares of NOV by 61.7% during the 4th quarter. Greenhaven Associates Inc. now owns 3,291,042 shares of the oil and gas exploration company's stock worth $48,049,000 after purchasing an additional 1,255,666 shares during the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of NOV by 1,590.1% during the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 2,907 shares of the oil and gas exploration company's stock valued at $46,000 after purchasing an additional 2,735 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bank of Montreal Can lifted its stake in shares of NOV by 519.1% in the 3rd quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 438,068 shares of the oil and gas exploration company's stock valued at $7,000,000 after purchasing an additional 367,308 shares during the last quarter. 93.27% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on NOV. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price objective on shares of NOV from $21.00 to $22.00 and gave the stock a "sector perform" rating in a research note on Thursday. Citigroup cut NOV from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and dropped their price target for the company from $21.00 to $18.00 in a report on Monday, November 11th. Seaport Res Ptn lowered NOV from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Sunday, January 5th. Susquehanna cut their target price on NOV from $22.00 to $21.00 and set a "positive" rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, October 28th. Finally, Barclays decreased their price target on NOV from $16.00 to $12.00 and set an "underweight" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, December 18th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $19.47.

NOV Stock Up 0.9 %

Shares of NYSE NOV traded up $0.14 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $15.62. The company had a trading volume of 5,312,625 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,010,687. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $14.91 and a two-hundred day moving average of $16.10. NOV has a 12-month low of $13.94 and a 12-month high of $21.20. The company has a market capitalization of $6.08 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.70, a PEG ratio of 1.00 and a beta of 1.64. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26, a quick ratio of 1.65 and a current ratio of 2.46.

NOV (NYSE:NOV - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The oil and gas exploration company reported $0.41 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.35 by $0.06. NOV had a net margin of 7.16% and a return on equity of 9.88%. As a group, equities research analysts expect that NOV will post 1.42 EPS for the current year.

NOV Announces Dividend

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 of this dividend was Friday, December 6th. This represents a $0.30 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.92%. NOV's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 18.63%.

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.