Noble Corporation PLC (NYSE:NE) Short Interest Down 15.4% in April

Noble Corporation PLC (NYSE:NE) was the recipient of a significant drop in short interest in the month of April. As of April 15th, there was short interest totaling 9,674,235 shares, a drop of 15.4% from the March 31st total of 11,434,505 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 1,379,138 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 7.0 days. Approximately 6.2% of the shares of the company are short sold.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms recently issued reports on NE. Barclays lifted their price objective on Noble from $41.00 to $50.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday. BTIG Research lifted their price objective on Noble from $35.00 to $42.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, February 2nd. Susquehanna lifted their price target on Noble from $45.00 to $50.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 7th. Zacks Research lowered Noble from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research note on Monday, April 20th. Finally, SEB Equity Research set a $33.00 price target on Noble in a research note on Tuesday, January 27th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, nine have assigned a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Noble has an average rating of “Reduce” and an average target price of $44.38.

Insider Transactions at Noble

In related news, SVP Joey M. Kawaja sold 19,725 shares of Noble stock in a transaction on Friday, February 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $43.51, for a total transaction of $858,234.75. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president owned 80,074 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,484,019.74. This trade represents a 19.76% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CFO Richard B. Barker sold 150,000 shares of Noble stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $46.63, for a total value of $6,994,500.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 164,781 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,683,738.03. This represents a 47.65% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 346,631 shares of company stock valued at $16,003,924. 1.50% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of NE. Hosking Partners LLP increased its holdings in Noble by 10.0% during the 4th quarter. Hosking Partners LLP now owns 1,140,328 shares of the company’s stock valued at $32,203,000 after purchasing an additional 103,477 shares during the period. Russell Investments Group Ltd. increased its holdings in Noble by 2.8% during the 4th quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 911,491 shares of the company’s stock valued at $25,740,000 after purchasing an additional 24,725 shares during the period. SG Americas Securities LLC increased its holdings in Noble by 424.2% during the 4th quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 440,342 shares of the company’s stock valued at $12,435,000 after purchasing an additional 356,333 shares during the period. Sagefield Capital LP increased its holdings in Noble by 40.0% during the 4th quarter. Sagefield Capital LP now owns 182,844 shares of the company’s stock valued at $5,164,000 after purchasing an additional 52,261 shares during the period. Finally, Hara Capital LLC purchased a new position in Noble during the 4th quarter valued at about $4,902,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 68.14% of the company’s stock.

Noble Trading Down 0.9%

Shares of NE traded down $0.48 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $50.55. The company had a trading volume of 1,993,911 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,528,767. The firm has a market cap of $8.07 billion, a P/E ratio of 35.35 and a beta of 0.94. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $47.82 and its 200 day moving average price is $37.50. The company has a quick ratio of 1.67, a current ratio of 1.99 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.42. Noble has a 52-week low of $22.04 and a 52-week high of $54.57.

Noble (NYSE:NE) last released its quarterly earnings data on Monday, April 27th. The company reported $0.26 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.21 by $0.05. The firm had revenue of $785.69 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $730.47 million. Noble had a return on equity of 2.32% and a net margin of 7.17%.The company’s quarterly revenue was down 10.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.26 earnings per share. On average, research analysts predict that Noble will post 0.93 EPS for the current year.

Noble Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 25th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, June 4th will be issued a $0.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, June 4th. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.0%. Noble’s payout ratio is currently 139.86%.

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.