Noble (NYSE:NE) Lowered to “Sell” Rating by Wall Street Zen

Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Noble (NYSE:NE) from a hold rating to a sell rating in a research report sent to investors on Saturday morning.

Other research analysts also recently issued reports about the company. Susquehanna reduced their target price on Noble from $55.00 to $40.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, July 8th. Fearnley Fonds raised shares of Noble from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday. Zacks Research cut shares of Noble from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 22nd. Citigroup dropped their target price on shares of Noble from $52.00 to $45.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, June 30th. Finally, Evercore set a $59.00 target price on shares of Noble in a research note on Monday, April 27th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, two have given a Buy rating, seven have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $44.71.

Noble Price Performance

Shares of Noble stock opened at $42.33 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.99, a current ratio of 1.91 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.42. Noble has a twelve month low of $25.24 and a twelve month high of $54.98. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $42.65 and a 200 day moving average price of $44.29. The firm has a market cap of $6.76 billion, a PE ratio of 45.52 and a beta of 0.92.

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 during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $697.98 million. Noble had a return on equity of 1.93% and a net margin of 4.88%.The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 15.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.27 EPS. Sell-side analysts predict that Noble will post 0.76 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Noble Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 24th. Investors of record on Thursday, September 3rd will be given a dividend of $0.50 per share. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.7%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, September 3rd. Noble’s payout ratio is presently 215.05%.

Insider Transactions at Noble

In other Noble news, Director Charles M. Sledge sold 724 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $51.61, for a total value of $37,365.64. Following the transaction, the director owned 1,360 shares in the company, valued at approximately $70,189.60. This trade represents a 34.74% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, SVP Blake Denton sold 30,000 shares of Noble stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $49.31, for a total transaction of $1,479,300.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president directly owned 29,927 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,475,700.37. This trade represents a 50.06% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders sold 125,724 shares of company stock worth $6,049,266 in the last quarter. 1.50% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Noble

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Hosking Partners LLP grew its stake in Noble by 10.0% during the 4th quarter. Hosking Partners LLP now owns 1,140,328 shares of the company’s stock valued at $32,203,000 after acquiring an additional 103,477 shares in the last quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. lifted its stake in Noble by 2.8% in the 4th quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 911,491 shares of the company’s stock worth $25,740,000 after purchasing an additional 24,725 shares in the last quarter. Sagefield Capital LP lifted its stake in Noble by 40.0% in the 4th 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 in the last quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Noble in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $3,935,000. Finally, State of Tennessee Department of Treasury acquired a new position in shares of Noble during the 4th quarter worth approximately $1,109,000. 68.14% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.