Short Interest in Noble Corporation PLC (NYSE:NE) Declines By 15.4%

Noble Corporation PLC (NYSE:NE) was the recipient of a significant drop in short interest in April. As of April 15th, there was short interest totaling 9,674,235 shares, a drop of 15.4% from the March 31st total of 11,434,505 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 1,379,138 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 7.0 days. Approximately 6.2% of the shares of the stock are sold short.

Insider Activity

In related news, SVP Caroline Alting sold 15,340 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $52.75, for a total transaction of $809,185.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president owned 8,170 shares in the company, valued at approximately $430,967.50. This trade represents a 65.25% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Richard B. Barker sold 150,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $46.63, for a total value of $6,994,500.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer owned 164,781 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,683,738.03. This represents a 47.65% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders have sold a total of 346,631 shares of company stock valued at $16,003,924 in the last three months. 1.50% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Noble

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of NE. Strs Ohio bought a new stake in shares of Noble in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $142,000. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Noble by 819.1% in the 2nd 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 last quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors bought a new stake in shares of Noble in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $359,000. Yousif Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Noble in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $1,095,000. Finally, Salomon & Ludwin LLC bought a new stake in shares of Noble in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $40,000. 68.14% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts recently issued reports on the company. SEB Equity Research set a $33.00 target price on Noble in a research report on Tuesday, January 27th. Wall Street Zen upgraded Noble from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday. Evercore set a $59.00 price target on Noble in a research note on Monday, April 27th. Barclays increased their price target on Noble from $41.00 to $50.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Finally, BTIG Research increased their price target on Noble from $35.00 to $42.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, February 2nd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, nine have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $44.38.

Noble Price Performance

Shares of Noble stock opened at $50.55 on Friday. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $47.82 and a 200 day moving average of $37.57. Noble has a 12 month low of $22.04 and a 12 month high of $54.57. The firm has a market cap of $8.07 billion, a PE ratio of 35.35 and a beta of 0.94. The company has a current ratio of 1.99, a quick ratio of 1.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.42.

Noble (NYSE:NE) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Monday, April 27th. The company reported $0.26 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.21 by $0.05. Noble had a return on equity of 2.32% and a net margin of 7.17%.The company had revenue of $785.69 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $730.47 million. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.26 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was down 10.1% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts expect that Noble will post 0.93 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Noble Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 25th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, June 4th will be paid a $0.50 dividend. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.0%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, June 4th. Noble’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 139.86%.

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.