Avidian Wealth Enterprises LLC Makes New Investment in Noble Corporation PLC $NE

Avidian Wealth Enterprises LLC purchased a new stake in Noble Corporation PLC (NYSE:NE) in the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund purchased 1,336,902 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $55,802,000. Noble accounts for approximately 1.6% of Avidian Wealth Enterprises LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 13th biggest holding.

Several other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in NE. First Eagle Investment Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Noble by 2.9% in the second quarter. First Eagle Investment Management LLC now owns 13,957,162 shares of the company’s stock worth $520,602,000 after buying an additional 395,316 shares during the period. State Street Corp lifted its position in Noble by 4.1% during the 2nd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 5,428,507 shares of the company’s stock worth $202,483,000 after acquiring an additional 215,799 shares in the last quarter. Bank of America Corp DE lifted its position in Noble by 101.9% during the 2nd quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 1,347,291 shares of the company’s stock worth $50,254,000 after acquiring an additional 679,981 shares in the last quarter. Mraz Amerine & Associates Inc. boosted its holdings in Noble by 2.3% in the 2nd quarter. Mraz Amerine & Associates Inc. now owns 65,934 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,459,000 after acquiring an additional 1,486 shares during the period. Finally, The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company grew its position in Noble by 2.6% in the second quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 61,266 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,285,000 after acquiring an additional 1,524 shares in the last quarter. 68.14% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on NE shares. Citigroup restated a “neutral” rating on shares of Noble in a research note on Monday, September 7th. Zacks Research downgraded shares of Noble from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 22nd. Wall Street Zen downgraded Noble from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Saturday, August 1st. Susquehanna increased their price target on Noble from $40.00 to $44.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday. Finally, Fearnley Fonds upgraded Noble from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 29th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, two have assigned a Buy rating, five have issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Noble currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $45.29.

Noble Stock Up 3.8%

NE stock traded up $1.56 during mid-day trading on Thursday, hitting $42.53. 346,988 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,663,911. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $44.10 and a 200 day simple moving average of $45.44. The company has a market capitalization of $6.79 billion, a PE ratio of 45.73 and a beta of 1.00. Noble Corporation PLC has a twelve month low of $26.69 and a twelve month high of $54.98. The company has a current ratio of 1.91, a quick ratio of 1.91 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.42.

Noble (NYSE:NE) last issued its earnings results on Monday, July 27th. The company reported $0.01 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.15 by ($0.14). Noble had a net margin of 4.88% and a return on equity of 1.93%. The company had revenue of $719.69 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $697.98 million. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.27 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 15.2% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts forecast that Noble Corporation PLC will post 0.4 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Noble Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, September 24th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, September 3rd were paid a dividend of $0.50 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, September 3rd. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.7%. Noble’s dividend payout ratio is presently 215.05%.

Noble Company Profile

Noble Corporation plc (NYSE: NE) is an offshore drilling contractor that provides drilling services to oil and gas companies worldwide. The company operates a fleet of offshore drilling rigs, including drillships, semisubmersible rigs and jackup rigs, which are used for exploration, development and production activities in offshore oil and gas fields.

Noble’s services include contract drilling, rig operations, well-construction support and related offshore services. Its fleet is designed to work in a range of water depths and operating environments, including deepwater and harsh-environment locations.