Noble (NYSE:NE) Stock Gets Downgrade from Zacks Research

Noble (NYSE:NE) was downgraded by Zacks Research from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a report issued on Monday, Zacks reports.

NE has been the subject of a number of other reports. Noble Financial started coverage on shares of Noble in a research note on Thursday, October 29th. They issued an “outperform” rating for the company. Weiss Ratings cut shares of Noble from a “hold (c)” rating to a “sell (d+)” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 4th. Barclays lowered their price objective on shares of Noble from $55.00 to $53.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, July 30th. Citigroup raised their target price on shares of Noble from $50.00 to $52.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, October 29th. Finally, Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Noble from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Saturday, August 1st. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, three have issued a Buy rating, three have assigned a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Noble presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $46.57.

Noble Stock Up 0.1%

Shares of Noble stock opened at $41.17 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.44, a quick ratio of 1.76 and a current ratio of 1.76. The stock has a market capitalization of $6.57 billion, a PE ratio of 124.76 and a beta of 1.05. Noble has a 52-week low of $27.67 and a 52-week high of $54.98. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $44.01 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $44.72.

Noble (NYSE:NE) last posted its earnings results on Monday, October 26th. The company reported ($0.57) EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.23 by ($0.80). Noble had a negative return on equity of 0.76% and a net margin of 1.79%. The business had revenue of $728.76 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $713.82 million. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted ($0.13) EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 8.6% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts anticipate that Noble will post 0.11 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Noble

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in NE. First Eagle Investment Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Noble by 4.1% in the third quarter. First Eagle Investment Management LLC now owns 14,523,873 shares of the company’s stock worth $606,226,000 after purchasing an additional 566,711 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp lifted its stake in shares of Noble by 4.1% during the 2nd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 5,428,507 shares of the company’s stock valued at $202,483,000 after buying an additional 215,799 shares in the last quarter. Bank of America Corp DE lifted its stake in shares of Noble by 101.9% during the 2nd quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 1,347,291 shares of the company’s stock valued at $50,254,000 after buying an additional 679,981 shares in the last quarter. Avidian Wealth Enterprises LLC bought a new position in Noble in the 3rd quarter worth $55,802,000. Finally, CWA Asset Management Group LLC increased its stake in Noble by 1.9% in the 3rd quarter. CWA Asset Management Group LLC now owns 761,190 shares of the company’s stock worth $31,772,000 after buying an additional 14,231 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 68.14% of the company’s stock.

Noble Company Profile

Noble Corporation plc, operating as Noble (NYSE: NE), provides contract drilling services to the offshore oil and gas industry. The company owns and operates a fleet of mobile offshore drilling units, including drillships, semisubmersible rigs and jackup rigs, and provides related services to energy companies exploring for and producing oil and natural gas. Noble serves customers in offshore markets around the world. Its operations support drilling in a range of water depths and environments, from shallow-water projects to deepwater and ultra-deepwater developments.