Stock Traders Buy Large Volume of NOV Call Options (NYSE:NOV)

NOV Inc. (NYSE:NOV) saw unusually large options trading activity on Thursday. Traders acquired 12,510 call options on the stock. This represents an increase of 1,628% compared to the average volume of 724 call options.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have issued reports on NOV. Morgan Stanley dropped their price target on NOV from $25.00 to $23.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday. Barclays lifted their price target on shares of NOV from $17.00 to $20.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 30th. Benchmark reaffirmed a “hold” rating on shares of NOV in a research note on Friday, July 26th. Piper Sandler decreased their target price on shares of NOV from $22.00 to $20.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, July 15th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reissued a “sector perform” rating and issued a $24.00 price target on shares of NOV in a research note on Monday, July 29th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $24.42.

NOV Trading Up 3.0 %

NYSE:NOV traded up $0.49 during mid-day trading on Thursday, reaching $16.92. 619,583 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 3,671,085. NOV has a 12-month low of $15.47 and a 12-month high of $21.71. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27, a current ratio of 2.61 and a quick ratio of 1.64. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $17.94 and a 200-day moving average price of $18.39. The firm has a market capitalization of $6.69 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 6.60, a PEG ratio of 0.47 and a beta of 1.67.

NOV (NYSE:NOV) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 25th. The oil and gas exploration company reported $0.57 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.35 by $0.22. The company had revenue of $2.22 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.19 billion. NOV had a return on equity of 10.97% and a net margin of 11.88%. The firm’s revenue was up 5.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.39 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts predict that NOV will post 1.63 earnings per share for the current year.

NOV Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 27th. Investors of record on Friday, September 13th will be given a dividend of $0.075 per share. This represents a $0.30 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.77%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, September 13th. NOV’s dividend payout ratio is currently 12.05%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On NOV

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Pzena Investment Management LLC raised its holdings in NOV by 0.3% in the second quarter. Pzena Investment Management LLC now owns 35,175,886 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock worth $668,694,000 after purchasing an additional 103,238 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its stake in shares of NOV by 40.0% in the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 12,138,093 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock worth $230,743,000 after purchasing an additional 3,470,860 shares during the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its holdings in shares of NOV by 67.2% during the second quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 9,928,911 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock valued at $188,749,000 after purchasing an additional 3,989,095 shares in the last quarter. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. boosted its position in shares of NOV by 769.1% during the fourth quarter. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. now owns 6,166,061 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock valued at $125,048,000 after buying an additional 5,456,581 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Boston Partners bought a new stake in NOV in the 1st quarter worth about $119,686,000. 93.27% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

NOV Company Profile

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.