Noble (NYSE:NE) Price Target Raised to $52.00

Noble (NYSE:NE) had its price target boosted by Citigroup from $50.00 to $52.00 in a research report released on Tuesday,Benzinga reports. Citigroup currently has a neutral rating on the stock.

Other equities research analysts have also issued reports about the stock. Barclays lifted their target price on shares of Noble from $41.00 to $50.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 29th. Evercore set a $59.00 target price on shares of Noble in a research report on Monday, April 27th. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Noble from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, May 2nd. Weiss Ratings lowered shares of Noble from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 29th. Finally, Zacks Research lowered shares of Noble from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research report on Monday, April 20th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eight have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Noble presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $45.38.

Noble Price Performance

NE stock opened at $48.49 on Tuesday. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $48.04 and a 200-day moving average of $38.09. The company has a current ratio of 1.99, a quick ratio of 1.99 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.42. Noble has a 12 month low of $22.37 and a 12 month high of $54.57. The firm has a market capitalization of $7.74 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.91 and a beta of 0.94.

Noble (NYSE:NE) last announced its earnings results on Monday, April 27th. The company reported $0.26 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.21 by $0.05. Noble had a net margin of 7.17% and a return on equity of 2.32%. The business had revenue of $785.69 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $730.47 million. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.26 earnings per share. Noble’s revenue for the quarter was down 10.1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Noble will post 0.93 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Noble Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 25th. Investors of record on Thursday, June 4th will be paid a $0.50 dividend. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.1%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, June 4th. Noble’s payout ratio is presently 139.86%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Robert W. Eifler sold 100,000 shares of Noble stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $46.62, for a total value of $4,662,000.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 1,243,828 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $57,987,261.36. The trade was a 7.44% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, SVP Blake Denton sold 30,000 shares of Noble stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $49.31, for a total transaction of $1,479,300.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 29,927 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,475,700.37. The trade was a 50.06% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders sold 416,631 shares of company stock valued at $19,477,224 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 1.50% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Westside Investment Management Inc. increased its position in Noble by 156.4% during the 3rd quarter. Westside Investment Management Inc. now owns 864 shares of the company’s stock valued at $25,000 after purchasing an additional 527 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its position in Noble by 77.8% during the 4th quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,440 shares of the company’s stock valued at $41,000 after purchasing an additional 630 shares during the period. Parallel Advisors LLC increased its position in Noble by 43.7% during the 1st quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 2,693 shares of the company’s stock valued at $132,000 after purchasing an additional 819 shares during the period. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC increased its position in Noble by 819.1% during the 2nd quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 2,601 shares of the company’s stock valued at $69,000 after purchasing an additional 2,318 shares during the period. Finally, Janney Montgomery Scott LLC purchased a new position in Noble during the 1st quarter valued at $218,000. 68.14% of the stock is 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.