State of Alaska Department of Revenue Acquires 26,362 Shares of Noble Corporation PLC $NE

State of Alaska Department of Revenue acquired a new stake in shares of Noble Corporation PLC (NYSE:NE) during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 26,362 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,099,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB acquired a new position in Noble in the 3rd quarter valued at about $40,000. Versant Capital Management Inc lifted its holdings in Noble by 44.4% in the 2nd quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 1,243 shares of the company’s stock valued at $46,000 after purchasing an additional 382 shares in the last quarter. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC purchased a new position in Noble in the 2nd quarter valued at about $118,000. Parallel Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Noble by 43.7% during the 1st quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 2,693 shares of the company’s stock worth $132,000 after purchasing an additional 819 shares during the last quarter. Finally, EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Noble by 20.4% during the 1st quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 3,080 shares of the company’s stock worth $151,000 after purchasing an additional 521 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 68.14% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

NE has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Barclays decreased their target price on shares of Noble from $55.00 to $53.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, July 30th. Citigroup reiterated a “neutral” rating on shares of Noble in a report on Monday, September 7th. Fearnley Fonds raised Noble from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 29th. Wall Street Zen cut Noble from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Saturday, August 1st. Finally, Susquehanna raised their price objective on Noble from $40.00 to $44.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, October 5th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, two have issued a Buy rating and six have given a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Noble currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $45.29.

Noble Trading Down 2.9%

Shares of NE stock opened at $42.76 on Wednesday. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $44.37 and its 200-day simple moving average is $45.08. 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 Corporation PLC has a 1-year low of $27.67 and a 1-year high of $54.98. The firm has a market cap of $6.83 billion, a P/E ratio of 80.07 and a beta of 1.00.

Noble (NYSE:NE) last released 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 analysts’ expectations of $697.98 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.27 earnings per share. Noble’s revenue for the quarter was down 15.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Noble Corporation PLC will post 0.47 EPS for the current year.

Noble Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared 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 of this dividend was Thursday, September 3rd. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.7%. Noble’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 215.05%.

About Noble

Noble Corporation plc (NYSE: NE) is an offshore drilling contractor that provides drilling services to the global oil and gas industry. The company operates a fleet of offshore drilling units, including drillships, semisubmersible rigs and jackup rigs, which are used to explore for and develop oil and natural gas reserves beneath the seabed.

Noble’s services include contract drilling, well planning, project management and other related support services. Its drilling units are designed to operate in a range of offshore environments, including deepwater and harsh-environment locations.