Noble (NYSE:NE) SVP Caroline Alting Sells 4,195 Shares

Noble Corporation PLC (NYSE:NE) SVP Caroline Alting sold 4,195 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $43.60, for a total value of $182,902.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president owned 23,510 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,025,036. The trade was a 15.14% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website.

Noble Stock Performance

Shares of NE stock traded up $0.42 on Thursday, hitting $44.68. The company had a trading volume of 639,609 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,321,360. The stock has a market cap of $7.11 billion, a PE ratio of 33.12 and a beta of 1.12. Noble Corporation PLC has a twelve month low of $17.40 and a twelve month high of $46.31. The company has a quick ratio of 1.67, a current ratio of 1.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43.

Noble (NYSE:NE) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, February 11th. The company reported $0.09 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.15 by ($0.06). The firm had revenue of $764.41 million for the quarter. Noble had a net margin of 6.60% and a return on equity of 2.34%. Noble’s quarterly revenue was down 17.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.56 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts expect that Noble Corporation PLC will post 2.99 EPS for the current year.

Noble Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 19th. Investors of record on Wednesday, March 4th will be given a $0.50 dividend. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.5%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, March 4th. Noble’s dividend payout ratio is presently 148.15%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Noble

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Westside Investment Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of Noble by 156.4% during the third quarter. Westside Investment Management Inc. now owns 864 shares of the company’s stock valued at $25,000 after acquiring an additional 527 shares in the last quarter. Salomon & Ludwin LLC acquired a new stake in Noble during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $40,000. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its holdings in Noble by 77.8% during the 4th quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,440 shares of the company’s stock worth $41,000 after purchasing an additional 630 shares during the last quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC raised its position 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 in the last quarter. Finally, Strs Ohio purchased a new position in shares of Noble during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $142,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 68.14% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have recently issued reports on NE. BTIG Research boosted their price target on shares of Noble from $35.00 to $42.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, February 2nd. Barclays cut Noble from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and raised their target price for the company from $36.00 to $41.00 in a report on Wednesday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on shares of Noble from $33.00 to $41.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Noble Financial downgraded Noble to a “market perform” rating in a research note on Monday, December 1st. Finally, Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Noble in a report on Monday, December 29th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, ten have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $38.63.

About Noble

Noble Corp. Plc engages in the provision offshore drilling services for oil and gas industry. It focuses on a balanced fleet of floating and jackup rigs and the deployment of drilling rigs in oil and gas basins around the world. The company was founded by Lloyd Noble and Art Olson in 1921 and is headquartered in London, the United Kingdom.