Noble (NYSE:NE) Director Sells $263,100.00 in Stock

Noble Corporation PLC (NYSE:NE) Director Al Hirshberg sold 5,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $52.62, for a total transaction of $263,100.00. Following the transaction, the director owned 27,803 shares in the company, valued at $1,462,993.86. This represents a 15.24% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website.

Noble Stock Performance

Shares of Noble stock traded up $1.46 during trading on Monday, hitting $54.36. 1,247,773 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,933,970. The stock has a market capitalization of $8.67 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 38.02 and a beta of 0.94. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $48.75 and a 200-day moving average price of $39.03. Noble Corporation PLC has a 1-year low of $22.37 and a 1-year high of $54.61. The company has a current ratio of 1.99, a quick ratio of 1.99 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.42.

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

Noble Announces Dividend

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

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in NE. Strs Ohio acquired a new position in shares of Noble during the 1st quarter worth approximately $142,000. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of Noble by 819.1% during the 2nd 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. Captrust Financial Advisors acquired a new position in shares of Noble during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $359,000. Amalgamated Bank grew its position in shares of Noble by 663.5% during the 3rd quarter. Amalgamated Bank now owns 36,150 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,022,000 after purchasing an additional 31,415 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Cheviot Value Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Noble during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $343,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 68.14% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts recently commented on the stock. Evercore set a $59.00 price target on shares of Noble in a research note on Monday, April 27th. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Noble from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, May 2nd. Zacks Research lowered shares of Noble from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research note on Monday, April 20th. BTIG Research upped 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. Finally, Barclays upgraded shares of Noble from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and upped their price target for the company from $50.00 to $56.00 in a research note on Thursday, May 7th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eight have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $45.38.

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.