Noble Corporation PLC (NYSE:NE) Stock Now Rated “Hold” by Sell-Side Brokerages

Shares of Noble Corporation PLC (NYSE:NE) have been assigned a consensus rating of “Hold” from the nine ratings firms that are presently covering the stock, MarketBeat Ratings reports. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, five have issued a hold recommendation, two have issued a buy recommendation and one has given a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 1-year price objective among brokers that have covered the stock in the last year is $45.29.

NE has been the subject of several research reports. Fearnley Fonds raised Noble from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 29th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Noble in a research report on Friday, July 24th. Barclays cut their price target on shares of Noble from $55.00 to $53.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, July 30th. Citigroup reaffirmed a “neutral” rating on shares of Noble in a research note on Monday, September 7th. Finally, Susquehanna boosted their target price on shares of Noble from $40.00 to $44.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday.

Noble Price Performance

NYSE NE opened at $42.21 on Friday. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $44.12 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $45.41. Noble has a 52 week low of $26.69 and a 52 week high of $54.98. The stock has a market cap of $6.74 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 45.39 and a beta of 1.00. The company has a current ratio of 1.91, a quick ratio of 1.91 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.42.

Noble (NYSE:NE) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, July 27th. The company reported $0.01 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.15 by ($0.14). The business had revenue of $719.69 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $697.98 million. Noble had a net margin of 4.88% and a return on equity of 1.93%. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 15.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.27 EPS. Analysts forecast that Noble will post 0.4 EPS for the current year.

Noble Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, September 24th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, September 3rd were given a $0.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, September 3rd. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.7%. Noble’s payout ratio is 215.05%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Noble

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of NE. First Eagle Investment Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Noble by 2.9% in the 2nd quarter. First Eagle Investment Management LLC now owns 13,957,162 shares of the company’s stock worth $520,602,000 after acquiring an additional 395,316 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Noble by 4.1% during the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 5,428,507 shares of the company’s stock valued at $202,483,000 after purchasing an additional 215,799 shares during the last quarter. Avidian Wealth Enterprises LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Noble during the third quarter valued at $55,802,000. Bank of America Corp DE lifted its holdings in shares of Noble by 101.9% during the second quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 1,347,291 shares of the company’s stock valued at $50,254,000 after purchasing an additional 679,981 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Mraz Amerine & Associates Inc. boosted its position in shares of Noble by 2.3% in the 2nd quarter. Mraz Amerine & Associates Inc. now owns 65,934 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,459,000 after purchasing an additional 1,486 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 68.14% of the company’s stock.

Noble Company Profile

Noble Corporation plc (NYSE: NE) is an offshore drilling contractor that provides drilling services to oil and gas companies worldwide. The company operates a fleet of offshore drilling rigs, including drillships, semisubmersible rigs and jackup rigs, which are used for exploration, development and production activities in offshore oil and gas fields.

Noble’s services include contract drilling, rig operations, well-construction support and related offshore services. Its fleet is designed to work in a range of water depths and operating environments, including deepwater and harsh-environment locations.