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

NOV Inc. (NYSE:NOV) was the target of unusually large options trading on Wednesday. Stock investors acquired 2,616 put options on the stock. This is an increase of 1,353% compared to the typical daily volume of 180 put options.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On NOV

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Mariner LLC grew its stake in NOV by 2.9% in the fourth quarter. Mariner LLC now owns 24,201 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock worth $353,000 after purchasing an additional 672 shares in the last quarter. Signaturefd LLC grew its stake in NOV by 41.3% in the fourth quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 2,587 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock worth $38,000 after purchasing an additional 756 shares in the last quarter. HM Payson & Co. grew its stake in NOV by 2.1% in the third quarter. HM Payson & Co. now owns 49,000 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock worth $783,000 after purchasing an additional 1,000 shares in the last quarter. Huntington National Bank grew its stake in NOV by 88.7% in the fourth quarter. Huntington National Bank now owns 2,200 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock worth $32,000 after purchasing an additional 1,034 shares in the last quarter. Finally, ProShare Advisors LLC grew its stake in NOV by 6.1% in the fourth quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 18,204 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock worth $266,000 after purchasing an additional 1,042 shares in the last quarter. 93.27% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts recently weighed in on the company. Seaport Res Ptn lowered NOV from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Sunday, January 5th. Evercore ISI reaffirmed an “in-line” rating and issued a $18.00 target price (down from $25.00) on shares of NOV in a research report on Wednesday, January 15th. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price target on NOV from $21.00 to $22.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a report on Thursday, February 6th. ATB Capital reiterated a “sector perform” rating and issued a $19.00 price target on shares of NOV in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. Finally, TD Cowen lowered their price target on NOV from $28.00 to $22.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Monday, October 28th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $19.60.

NOV Stock Up 1.3 %

Shares of NOV stock opened at $15.48 on Friday. The business has a 50-day moving average of $14.95 and a 200-day moving average of $15.90. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26, a current ratio of 2.46 and a quick ratio of 1.64. The company has a market capitalization of $5.89 billion, a PE ratio of 9.61, a P/E/G ratio of 1.03 and a beta of 1.64. NOV has a 1-year low of $13.94 and a 1-year high of $21.20.

NOV (NYSE:NOV) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The oil and gas exploration company reported $0.41 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.35 by $0.06. NOV had a return on equity of 9.88% and a net margin of 7.16%. As a group, equities analysts forecast that NOV will post 1.4 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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.