Noble Corporation PLC (NYSE:NE) Given Consensus Rating of “Hold” by Brokerages

Shares of Noble Corporation PLC (NYSE:NE) have received an average recommendation of “Hold” from the twelve research firms that are covering the stock, MarketBeat reports. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, ten have issued a hold recommendation and one has assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 1 year price objective among brokers that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $38.6250.

Several analysts recently commented on NE shares. SEB Equity Research set a $33.00 price target on shares of Noble in a research report on Tuesday, January 27th. Zacks Research raised shares of Noble from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, February 9th. Noble Financial lowered Noble to a “market perform” rating in a research note on Monday, December 1st. Evercore set a $45.00 price target on Noble in a report on Friday, February 13th. Finally, Fearnley Fonds downgraded Noble from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 11th.

Insider Transactions at Noble

In other Noble news, SVP Mikkel Ipsen sold 3,453 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $43.56, for a total transaction of $150,412.68. Following the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 11,854 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $516,360.24. This trade represents a 22.56% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Blake Denton sold 23,255 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $43.50, for a total transaction of $1,011,592.50. Following the sale, the senior vice president directly owned 79,261 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,447,853.50. This represents a 22.68% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold 78,805 shares of company stock worth $3,411,254 in the last ninety days. Company insiders own 1.20% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of NE. Westside Investment Management Inc. increased its stake in Noble by 156.4% during the 3rd quarter. Westside Investment Management Inc. now owns 864 shares of the company’s stock worth $25,000 after buying an additional 527 shares in the last quarter. Salomon & Ludwin LLC purchased a new position in shares of Noble in the third quarter valued at approximately $40,000. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its stake in shares of Noble by 77.8% in the fourth quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,440 shares of the company’s stock worth $41,000 after acquiring an additional 630 shares during the last quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Noble by 819.1% during the second quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 2,601 shares of the company’s stock worth $69,000 after purchasing an additional 2,318 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Strs Ohio acquired a new position in Noble in the 1st quarter valued at $142,000. 68.14% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Noble Stock Down 1.0%

Shares of NE stock opened at $45.71 on Thursday. Noble has a twelve month low of $17.40 and a twelve month high of $47.44. The stock has a market cap of $7.28 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.86 and a beta of 1.12. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $35.14 and a 200 day moving average of $31.36. The company has a current ratio of 1.67, a quick ratio of 1.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43.

Noble (NYSE:NE) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 11th. The company reported $0.09 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.15 by ($0.06). The firm had revenue of $764.41 million for the quarter. Noble had a return on equity of 2.34% and a net margin of 6.60%.Noble’s revenue for the quarter was down 17.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.56 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Noble will post 2.99 EPS for the current year.

Noble Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 19th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, March 4th will be given a dividend of $0.50 per share. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, March 4th. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.4%. Noble’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 148.15%.

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.