Noble (NYSE:NE) Sets New 12-Month High – Still a Buy?

Shares of Noble Corporation PLC (NYSE:NE) hit a new 52-week high during mid-day trading on Monday . The stock traded as high as $54.57 and last traded at $54.2280, with a volume of 400808 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at $52.90.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have weighed in on NE. Barclays upgraded shares of Noble from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their target price for the company from $50.00 to $56.00 in a research note on Thursday, May 7th. Evercore set a $59.00 price target on Noble in a research note on Monday, April 27th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on shares of Noble from $33.00 to $41.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 17th. BTIG Research increased their price objective on shares of Noble from $35.00 to $42.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, February 2nd. Finally, Fearnley Fonds cut shares of Noble from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 11th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eight have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Noble currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $45.38.

Noble Stock Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.42, a quick ratio of 1.99 and a current ratio of 1.99. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $49.15 and its 200-day simple moving average is $39.38. The firm has a market capitalization of $8.67 billion, a PE ratio of 38.14 and a beta of 0.94.

Noble (NYSE:NE) last released its quarterly earnings data on Monday, April 27th. The company reported $0.26 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.21 by $0.05. The firm had revenue of $785.69 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $730.47 million. Noble had a net margin of 7.17% and a return on equity of 2.32%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 10.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.26 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Noble Corporation PLC will post 0.93 EPS for the current year.

Noble Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 25th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, June 4th will be issued a $0.50 dividend. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.7%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, June 4th. Noble’s payout ratio is 139.86%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director Al J. Hirshberg sold 5,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the director directly owned 27,803 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,462,993.86. This trade represents a 15.24% 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, Director Charles M. Sledge sold 724 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $51.61, for a total transaction of $37,365.64. Following the sale, the director directly owned 1,360 shares in the company, valued at approximately $70,189.60. The trade was a 34.74% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 365,633 shares of company stock worth $17,318,600. Insiders own 1.50% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Noble

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of 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 valued at $32,203,000 after purchasing an additional 103,477 shares during the last quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. grew its stake in Noble by 2.8% during the 4th quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 911,491 shares of the company’s stock valued at $25,740,000 after purchasing an additional 24,725 shares during the last quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC raised its stake in shares of Noble by 424.2% in the fourth quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 440,342 shares of the company’s stock worth $12,435,000 after purchasing an additional 356,333 shares during the last quarter. Sagefield Capital LP lifted its holdings in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 52,261 shares during the period. Finally, Hara Capital LLC purchased a new stake in Noble in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $4,902,000. 68.14% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.