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

Key Points

• Investors have significantly increased their activity in NOV's put options, buying 2,616 contracts, a staggering 1,353% increase from the average daily volume.
• Several analysts have downgraded NOV's target price, with the average target now set at $16.56 and a consensus rating of "Hold".
• NOV recently reported quarterly earnings of $0.29 EPS, slightly missing analysts’ expectations, while also announcing a quarterly dividend yielding 2.2%.

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

Analyst Ratings Changes

NOV has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Evercore ISI decreased their target price on NOV from $15.00 to $14.00 and set an "in-line" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, July 30th. Piper Sandler decreased their target price on NOV from $16.00 to $14.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, August 14th. Stifel Nicolaus decreased their target price on NOV from $22.00 to $20.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, July 30th. Royal Bank Of Canada decreased their target price on NOV from $19.00 to $18.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, July 30th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered NOV from an "overweight" rating to a "neutral" rating and decreased their target price for the company from $17.00 to $15.00 in a report on Wednesday, July 30th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eight have assigned a Hold rating and three have issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $16.56.

NOV Stock Up 2.3%

Shares of NYSE NOV opened at $13.56 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of $5.03 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.11, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.81 and a beta of 1.26. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26, a current ratio of 2.58 and a quick ratio of 1.72. The business has a 50-day moving average of $12.87 and a two-hundred day moving average of $12.94. NOV has a 1 year low of $10.84 and a 1 year high of $16.86.

NOV (NYSE:NOV - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Monday, July 28th. The oil and gas exploration company reported $0.29 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.30 by ($0.01). The business had revenue of $2.19 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $2.16 billion. NOV had a return on equity of 7.25% and a net margin of 5.36%.The firm's quarterly revenue was down 1.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.57 earnings per share. NOV has set its Q3 2025 guidance at EPS. On average, analysts forecast that NOV will post 1.4 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

NOV Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 26th. Stockholders of record on Friday, September 12th were issued a $0.075 dividend. This represents a $0.30 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.2%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, September 12th. NOV's payout ratio is presently 24.59%.

Institutional Trading of NOV

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in NOV. American Century Companies Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of NOV by 585.8% in the 2nd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 5,291,529 shares of the oil and gas exploration company's stock valued at $65,774,000 after purchasing an additional 4,519,957 shares during the last quarter. First Pacific Advisors LP lifted its holdings in shares of NOV by 101.0% in the 2nd quarter. First Pacific Advisors LP now owns 7,018,950 shares of the oil and gas exploration company's stock valued at $87,246,000 after purchasing an additional 3,526,754 shares during the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of NOV by 88.9% in the 1st quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 7,146,949 shares of the oil and gas exploration company's stock valued at $107,276,000 after purchasing an additional 3,362,853 shares during the last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of NOV by 401.9% in the 2nd quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 3,165,518 shares of the oil and gas exploration company's stock valued at $39,347,000 after purchasing an additional 2,534,815 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Nuveen LLC purchased a new stake in shares of NOV in the 1st quarter valued at about $33,742,000. 93.27% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.

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