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

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

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have recently commented on NOV shares. Stifel Nicolaus upped their price target on NOV from $19.00 to $21.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 6th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c)” rating on shares of NOV in a research report on Monday, December 29th. Royal Bank Of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $21.00 price objective on shares of NOV in a research report on Thursday, January 15th. The Goldman Sachs Group reiterated a “sell” rating and set a $17.00 target price on shares of NOV in a report on Wednesday, January 14th. Finally, Argus upgraded NOV to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 10th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, nine have given a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, NOV presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $18.36.

Insider Buying and Selling at NOV

In related news, Director Christian S. Kendall purchased 70,000 shares of NOV stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 21st. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $14.46 per share, for a total transaction of $1,012,200.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 85,949 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,242,822.54. This trade represents a 438.90% increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. 2.08% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of NOV

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. V Square Quantitative Management LLC bought a new position in NOV in the fourth quarter valued at $28,000. CoreFirst Bank & Trust acquired a new stake in NOV in the second quarter valued at $35,000. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC grew its position in shares of NOV by 659.3% in the 4th quarter. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC now owns 2,278 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock valued at $36,000 after acquiring an additional 1,978 shares during the period. Rothschild Investment LLC increased its stake in shares of NOV by 50.1% during the 4th quarter. Rothschild Investment LLC now owns 2,337 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock worth $37,000 after purchasing an additional 780 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Allworth Financial LP raised its holdings in shares of NOV by 37.9% in the 4th quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 2,578 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock valued at $40,000 after purchasing an additional 709 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 93.27% of the company’s stock.

NOV Price Performance

NOV stock opened at $20.01 on Thursday. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $17.50 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $15.08. NOV has a 1 year low of $10.84 and a 1 year high of $20.11. The stock has a market cap of $7.21 billion, a PE ratio of 52.65 and a beta of 0.93. The company has a current ratio of 2.42, a quick ratio of 1.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27.

NOV (NYSE:NOV) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 4th. The oil and gas exploration company reported $0.02 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.25 by ($0.23). The firm had revenue of $2.28 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.17 billion. NOV had a net margin of 1.66% and a return on equity of 3.57%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 1.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.41 earnings per share. Equities analysts forecast that NOV will post 1.4 EPS for the current fiscal year.

NOV Company Profile

National Oilwell Varco (NYSE: NOV) is a leading provider of equipment and technology to the oil and gas industry. The company designs, manufactures and services an extensive portfolio of products used in drilling, completion and production operations. Its offerings include drilling rigs and related components, wellbore technologies such as tubulars and completion tools, surface equipment including mud pumps and blowout preventers, and aftermarket parts and services that support ongoing field operations.

NOV’s business is organized to serve upstream energy companies around the world.