Noble (NYSE:NE) Stock Price Down 4.2% – Should You Sell?

Noble Corporation PLC (NYSE:NE) dropped 4.2% on Monday . The company traded as low as $40.61 and last traded at $40.6260. Approximately 375,809 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 79% from the average session volume of 1,821,517 shares. The stock had previously closed at $42.40.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts recently commented on the company. Barclays decreased their price objective on Noble from $55.00 to $53.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, July 30th. Citigroup reduced their target price on shares of Noble from $52.00 to $45.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, June 30th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Noble in a research note on Friday, July 24th. Zacks Research downgraded shares of Noble from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 22nd. Finally, Susquehanna cut their price objective on shares of Noble from $55.00 to $40.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, July 8th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, two have issued a Buy rating, seven have issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $44.71.

Noble Stock Performance

The firm has a market cap of $6.52 billion, a PE ratio of 43.95 and a beta of 0.93. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $42.24 and a 200 day moving average price of $44.52. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.42, a current ratio of 1.91 and a quick ratio of 1.91.

Noble (NYSE:NE) last released its earnings results on Monday, July 27th. The company reported $0.01 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.15 by ($0.14). Noble had a return on equity of 1.93% and a net margin of 4.88%.The business had revenue of $719.69 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $697.98 million. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.27 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 15.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts forecast that Noble Corporation PLC will post 0.76 earnings per share for the current year.

Noble Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 24th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, September 3rd will be paid a dividend of $0.50 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, September 3rd. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.9%. Noble’s dividend payout ratio is currently 215.05%.

Insider Transactions at Noble

In related news, Director Al J. Hirshberg sold 5,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $52.62, for a total value of $263,100.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 27,803 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,462,993.86. The trade was a 15.24% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Robert W. Eifler sold 50,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $45.51, for a total transaction of $2,275,500.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 1,193,828 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $54,331,112.28. This trade represents a 4.02% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold a total of 55,724 shares of company stock worth $2,575,966 in the last three months. Company insiders own 1.50% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Noble

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in NE. Hosking Partners LLP raised its position in shares of Noble by 10.0% in the 4th quarter. Hosking Partners LLP now owns 1,140,328 shares of the company’s stock worth $32,203,000 after buying an additional 103,477 shares during the period. De Lisle Partners LLP acquired a new position in Noble in the fourth quarter valued at $824,000. Captrust Financial Advisors purchased a new stake in Noble during the second quarter valued at about $359,000. Russell Investments Group Ltd. grew its position in Noble by 2.8% during the fourth quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 911,491 shares of the company’s stock valued at $25,740,000 after acquiring an additional 24,725 shares during the period. Finally, Sagefield Capital LP increased its stake in Noble by 40.0% during the fourth quarter. Sagefield Capital LP now owns 182,844 shares of the company’s stock worth $5,164,000 after acquiring an additional 52,261 shares during the last quarter. 68.14% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

About Noble

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.