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

NOV Inc. (NYSE:NOV) saw some unusual options trading on Wednesday. Stock investors bought 2,616 put options on the company. This represents an increase of 1,353% compared to the typical volume of 180 put options.

NOV Stock Performance

NOV opened at $15.48 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $5.89 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.61, a price-to-earnings-growth 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. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $14.95 and a two-hundred day moving average price 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.

NOV (NYSE:NOV) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The oil and gas exploration company reported $0.41 earnings per share (EPS) 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%. Research analysts predict that NOV will post 1.4 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on the company. TD Cowen reduced their price objective on NOV from $28.00 to $22.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, October 28th. Wells Fargo & Company reduced 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. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price objective on NOV from $21.00 to $22.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. Atb Cap Markets downgraded NOV from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. Finally, Barclays boosted their price objective on NOV from $12.00 to $13.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $19.60.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Huntington National Bank increased its holdings in shares of 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 valued at $32,000 after buying an additional 1,034 shares in the last quarter. Covestor Ltd raised its stake in NOV by 282.9% during the 4th quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 2,240 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock valued at $33,000 after purchasing an additional 1,655 shares during the period. Quarry LP acquired a new stake in NOV during the 3rd quarter valued at $36,000. UMB Bank n.a. raised its stake in NOV by 222.3% during the 4th quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 2,337 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock valued at $34,000 after purchasing an additional 1,612 shares during the period. Finally, Signaturefd LLC raised its stake in NOV by 41.3% during the 4th quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 2,587 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock valued at $38,000 after purchasing an additional 756 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 93.27% of the company’s stock.

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.