Noble (NYSE:NE) SVP Caroline Alting Sells 15,340 Shares

Noble Corporation PLC (NYSE:NE) SVP Caroline Alting sold 15,340 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $52.75, for a total transaction of $809,185.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president owned 8,170 shares in the company, valued at $430,967.50. This represents a 65.25% 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.

Caroline Alting also recently made the following trade(s):

• On Friday, February 13th, Caroline Alting sold 4,195 shares of Noble stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $43.60, for a total transaction of $182,902.00.

Noble Stock Up 1.8%

Noble stock opened at $51.19 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $8.17 billion, a PE ratio of 35.80 and a beta of 1.00. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.42, a current ratio of 1.99 and a quick ratio of 1.67. The company’s 50-day moving average is $47.82 and its 200-day moving average is $37.50. Noble Corporation PLC has a fifty-two week low of $21.75 and a fifty-two week high of $54.57.

Noble (NYSE:NE) last announced its earnings results on Sunday, April 26th. The company reported $0.26 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.21 by $0.05. The business had revenue of $785.69 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $730.47 million. Noble had a net margin of 7.17% and a return on equity of 2.32%. Noble’s revenue was down 10.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.26 EPS. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Noble Corporation PLC will post 1.06 earnings per share for the current year.

Noble Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 25th. Investors of record on Thursday, June 4th will be issued a dividend of $0.50 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, June 4th. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.9%. Noble’s payout ratio is presently 139.86%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts recently commented on the stock. Barclays lifted their target price on shares of Noble from $41.00 to $50.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday. SEB Equity Research set a $33.00 target price on shares of Noble in a report on Tuesday, January 27th. Zacks Research downgraded shares of Noble from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a report on Monday, April 20th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on shares of Noble from $33.00 to $41.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 17th. Finally, Weiss Ratings downgraded shares of Noble from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a report on Wednesday. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, nine have issued a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Reduce” and a consensus target price of $44.38.

Institutional Trading of Noble

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of NE. SG Americas Securities LLC boosted its holdings in Noble by 424.2% in the 4th quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 440,342 shares of the company’s stock valued at $12,435,000 after purchasing an additional 356,333 shares during the period. Hara Capital LLC bought a new stake in Noble in the 4th quarter valued at about $4,902,000. Natixis Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Noble in the 3rd quarter valued at about $3,935,000. Hosking Partners LLP boosted its holdings in Noble by 10.0% in the 4th quarter. Hosking Partners LLP now owns 1,140,328 shares of the company’s stock valued at $32,203,000 after purchasing an additional 103,477 shares during the period. Finally, Sagefield Capital LP boosted its holdings in Noble by 40.0% in the 4th quarter. Sagefield Capital LP now owns 182,844 shares of the company’s stock valued at $5,164,000 after purchasing an additional 52,261 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 68.14% of the company’s stock.

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.