NOV Sees Unusually Large Options Volume (NYSE:NOV)

NOV Inc. (NYSE:NOV - Get Free Report) saw some unusual options trading on Wednesday. Investors purchased 2,616 put options on the stock. This is an increase of approximately 1,353% compared to the typical daily volume of 180 put options.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms recently commented on NOV. Royal Bank of Canada lowered their price target on NOV from $20.00 to $19.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 30th. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered their target price on shares of NOV from $16.00 to $13.00 and set a "sell" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, April 10th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price target on shares of NOV from $20.00 to $17.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 30th. Barclays reduced their price objective on shares of NOV from $13.00 to $11.00 and set an "underweight" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 30th. Finally, Raymond James increased their price objective on shares of NOV from $18.00 to $19.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, NOV has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $17.50.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On NOV

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. AQR Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of NOV by 88.9% in the first quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 7,146,949 shares of the oil and gas exploration company's stock worth $107,276,000 after acquiring an additional 3,362,853 shares during the period. First Pacific Advisors LP purchased a new stake in NOV during the 4th quarter worth about $39,495,000. Nuveen LLC bought a new position in NOV in the 1st quarter worth about $33,742,000. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its holdings in NOV by 13.0% during the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 16,793,128 shares of the oil and gas exploration company's stock valued at $245,178,000 after buying an additional 1,934,243 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Ameriprise Financial Inc. increased its position in shares of NOV by 40.7% during the fourth quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 5,718,408 shares of the oil and gas exploration company's stock valued at $83,489,000 after buying an additional 1,652,917 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 93.27% of the company's stock.

NOV Stock Performance

NYSE:NOV traded down $0.28 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $12.00. The stock had a trading volume of 4,791,350 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,979,888. The stock has a market cap of $4.51 billion, a P/E ratio of 7.45, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.02 and a beta of 1.27. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $12.61 and a 200 day simple moving average of $14.24. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26, a quick ratio of 1.64 and a current ratio of 2.46. NOV has a 12-month low of $10.84 and a 12-month high of $21.20.

NOV (NYSE:NOV - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Monday, April 28th. The oil and gas exploration company reported $0.19 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.25 by ($0.06). The firm had revenue of $2.10 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.11 billion. NOV had a net margin of 7.16% and a return on equity of 9.88%. The company's revenue was down 2.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.30 earnings per share. On average, research analysts forecast that NOV will post 1.4 EPS for the current fiscal year.

NOV Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 27th. Investors of record on Friday, June 13th will be issued a $0.075 dividend. This represents a $0.30 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.50%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 13th. NOV's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 20.00%.

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.