Noble (NYSE:NE) Director Sells $37,365.64 in Stock

Noble Corporation PLC (NYSE:NE) Director Charles Sledge sold 724 shares of Noble stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $51.61, for a total value of $37,365.64. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 1,360 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $70,189.60. This represents a 34.74% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink.

Noble Trading Up 0.8%

NE opened at $52.94 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $8.45 billion, a P/E ratio of 37.02 and a beta of 0.94. Noble Corporation PLC has a 12 month low of $22.37 and a 12 month high of $54.57. The company has a current ratio of 1.99, a quick ratio of 1.99 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.42. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $48.75 and a 200 day moving average of $38.97.

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

Noble Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 25th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, June 4th will be given a dividend of $0.50 per share. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.8%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, June 4th. Noble’s payout ratio is 139.86%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have issued reports on the company. Susquehanna boosted their target price on Noble from $45.00 to $50.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 7th. Fearnley Fonds lowered Noble from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 11th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on Noble from $33.00 to $41.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 17th. SEB Equity Research set a $33.00 target price on Noble in a research report on Tuesday, January 27th. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded Noble from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, May 2nd. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eight have issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $45.38.

Institutional Trading of Noble

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of NE. Westside Investment Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Noble by 156.4% in the third 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 boosted its holdings in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 630 shares during the period. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Noble by 819.1% in the second 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. Parallel Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Noble by 43.7% in the first 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. Finally, Strs Ohio purchased a new stake in shares of Noble in the first quarter valued at approximately $142,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 68.14% of the company’s stock.

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.