Noble Corporation PLC (NYSE:NE) Receives $45.38 Consensus PT from Brokerages

Shares of Noble Corporation PLC (NYSE:NE) have received an average rating of “Hold” from the eleven research firms that are presently covering the firm, MarketBeat.com reports. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating on the company. The average twelve-month price objective among analysts that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $44.50.

Several research firms recently commented on NE. Barclays raised shares of Noble from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $50.00 to $56.00 in a report on Thursday, May 7th. Weiss Ratings downgraded shares of Noble from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 29th. Citigroup cut their price objective on shares of Noble from $52.00 to $45.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday. Evercore set a $59.00 price objective on shares of Noble in a report on Monday, April 27th. Finally, Susquehanna raised their price objective on shares of Noble from $45.00 to $50.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 7th.

Noble Trading Down 2.0%

Shares of NE stock opened at $37.36 on Wednesday. The company has a 50 day moving average of $47.39 and a 200-day moving average of $42.51. The company has a quick ratio of 1.99, a current ratio of 1.99 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.42. Noble has a 12-month low of $25.24 and a 12-month high of $54.98. The firm has a market cap of $5.96 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.13 and a beta of 0.89.

Noble (NYSE:NE) last released its quarterly earnings data on Monday, April 27th. The company reported $0.26 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.21 by $0.05. The company 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 for the quarter was down 10.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.26 EPS. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Noble will post 0.94 earnings per share for the current year.

Noble Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 25th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, June 4th were issued a $0.50 dividend. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, June 4th. Noble’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 139.86%.

Insider Transactions at Noble

In other news, SVP Joey M. Kawaja sold 40,000 shares of Noble stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $49.85, for a total transaction of $1,994,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president directly owned 40,071 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,997,539.35. The trade was a 49.96% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. 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 of the company’s stock, valued at $1,475,700.37. This represents a 50.06% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 143,550 shares of company stock worth $6,985,436. 1.50% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Noble

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Rathbones Group PLC purchased a new position in Noble in the 1st quarter worth $308,000. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC raised its position in Noble by 20.4% in the 1st quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 3,080 shares of the company’s stock worth $151,000 after purchasing an additional 521 shares during the period. Parallel Advisors LLC raised its position in Noble by 43.7% in the 1st quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 2,693 shares of the company’s stock worth $132,000 after purchasing an additional 819 shares during the period. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC purchased a new position in Noble in the 1st quarter worth $218,000. Finally, State of Tennessee Department of Treasury purchased a new position in Noble in the 4th quarter worth $1,109,000. 68.14% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

About Noble

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.