Robert Eifler Sells 50,000 Shares of Noble (NYSE:NE) Stock

Noble Corporation PLC (NYSE:NE) CEO Robert Eifler sold 50,000 shares of the business’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 value of $2,275,500.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 1,193,828 shares in the company, valued at $54,331,112.28. This trade represents a 4.02% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website.

Noble Stock Down 0.9%

Shares of NYSE NE traded down $0.40 during trading on Wednesday, reaching $43.11. 1,334,110 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,804,136. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $48.99 and its 200 day moving average price is $42.00. Noble Corporation PLC has a twelve month low of $25.24 and a twelve month high of $54.98. The company has a quick ratio of 1.99, a current ratio of 1.99 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.42. The company has a market capitalization of $6.88 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.15 and a beta of 0.89.

Noble (NYSE:NE) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Monday, April 27th. The company reported $0.26 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.21 by $0.05. The firm had revenue of $785.69 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $730.47 million. Noble had a net margin of 7.17% and a return on equity of 2.32%. The firm’s revenue was down 10.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.26 EPS. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Noble Corporation PLC will post 0.94 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Noble Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared 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. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, June 4th. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.6%. Noble’s payout ratio is 139.86%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

NE has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Susquehanna increased their target price on Noble from $45.00 to $50.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 7th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on Noble from $33.00 to $41.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 17th. Barclays raised shares of Noble from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and upped their price target for the company from $50.00 to $56.00 in a report on Thursday, May 7th. Citigroup upped their price target on shares of Noble from $50.00 to $52.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, May 5th. Finally, Wall Street Zen raised shares of Noble from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, May 2nd. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and nine have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $45.38.

Institutional Trading of Noble

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Hosking Partners LLP raised its position in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 103,477 shares in the last quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC raised its position in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 356,333 shares in the last quarter. Hara Capital LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Noble during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $4,902,000. De Lisle Partners LLP acquired a new stake in shares of Noble during the fourth quarter worth $824,000. Finally, Captrust Financial Advisors acquired a new stake in shares of Noble during the second quarter worth $359,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.