Noble (NYSE:NE) Reaches New 12-Month High – What’s Next?

Noble Corporation PLC (NYSE:NE) shares hit a new 52-week high during mid-day trading on Tuesday . The stock traded as high as $47.73 and last traded at $47.8410, with a volume of 457326 shares. The stock had previously closed at $46.21.

Analyst Ratings Changes

NE has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Barclays cut shares of Noble from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and increased their target price for the company from $36.00 to $41.00 in a research report on Wednesday, February 18th. SEB Equity Research set a $33.00 price objective on shares of Noble in a research note on Tuesday, January 27th. Evercore set a $45.00 price objective on shares of Noble in a report on Friday, February 13th. Noble Financial lowered shares of Noble to a “market perform” rating in a research note on Monday, December 1st. Finally, Fearnley Fonds cut Noble from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 11th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, ten have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Noble presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $38.63.

Noble Stock Performance

The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $39.59 and a 200 day moving average price of $33.04. The company has a current ratio of 1.67, a quick ratio of 1.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43. The firm has a market cap of $7.56 billion, a PE ratio of 35.15 and a beta of 1.07.

Noble (NYSE:NE) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 11th. The company reported $0.09 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.15 by ($0.06). Noble had a net margin of 6.60% and a return on equity of 2.34%. The firm had revenue of $764.41 million during the quarter. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.56 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 17.6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Noble Corporation PLC will post 2.99 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Noble Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 19th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, March 4th will be paid a $0.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, March 4th. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.2%. Noble’s dividend payout ratio is 148.15%.

Insider Activity

In other news, SVP Jennie Howard sold 6,094 shares of Noble stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $42.00, for a total transaction of $255,948.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president owned 18,162 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $762,804. The trade was a 25.12% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CFO Richard B. Barker sold 20,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $42.96, for a total value of $859,200.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 314,781 shares in the company, valued at $13,522,991.76. This represents a 5.97% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 78,805 shares of company stock worth $3,411,254. 1.20% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Noble

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Westside Investment Management Inc. increased its position in shares of Noble by 156.4% during the 3rd quarter. Westside Investment Management Inc. now owns 864 shares of the company’s stock worth $25,000 after purchasing an additional 527 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its position in Noble by 77.8% in the fourth quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,440 shares of the company’s stock valued at $41,000 after buying an additional 630 shares during the last quarter. Salomon & Ludwin LLC purchased a new position in Noble during the third quarter worth about $40,000. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Noble by 819.1% during the second quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 2,601 shares of the company’s stock worth $69,000 after buying an additional 2,318 shares during the period. Finally, Systematic Financial Management LP increased its position in shares of Noble by 0.8% during the second quarter. Systematic Financial Management LP now owns 540,535 shares of the company’s stock valued at $14,351,000 after acquiring an additional 4,435 shares during the last quarter. 68.14% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Noble Company Profile

Noble (NYSE: NE) is an offshore drilling company that provides drilling services to the global oil and gas industry. The firm operates a fleet of mobile offshore drilling units and delivers contract drilling solutions for exploration and production activities. Its core business centers on executing drilling programs for upstream energy companies across a range of water depths and operating environments.

Products and services include the operation and management of offshore drilling rigs — such as drillships, semisubmersibles and jackups — along with associated technical, engineering and project management services.