Key Points
- Insider sale: Noble SVP Mikkel Ipsen sold 3,453 shares at an average price of $43.56 for $150,412.68, leaving him with 11,854 shares — a 22.56% reduction in his ownership stake.
- Multiple senior executives also disclosed material stock sales this week (e.g., Blake Denton 23,255 shares; Joey M. Kawaja 19,725 shares), a development that may weigh on near-term investor sentiment.
- Financials and dividend: Noble missed Q4 EPS estimates ($0.09 vs. $0.15), reported revenue down 17.6% YoY, and declared a $0.50 quarterly dividend (4.5% yield) with a high payout ratio of 148.15%, raising questions about dividend sustainability.
Noble Corporation PLC (NYSE:NE - Get Free Report) SVP Mikkel Ipsen sold 3,453 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $43.56, for a total transaction of $150,412.68. Following the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 11,854 shares of the company's stock, valued at $516,360.24. This represents a 22.56% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink.
Noble Trading Up 0.9%
Shares of NYSE:NE traded up $0.39 during mid-day trading on Thursday, reaching $44.65. The company had a trading volume of 819,914 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,326,951. Noble Corporation PLC has a one year low of $17.40 and a one year high of $46.31. The company has a current ratio of 1.67, a quick ratio of 1.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43. The stock has a market capitalization of $7.11 billion, a PE ratio of 33.08 and a beta of 1.12.
Noble (NYSE:NE - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, February 11th. The company reported $0.09 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.15 by ($0.06). The firm had revenue of $764.41 million during the quarter. Noble had a return on equity of 2.34% and a net margin of 6.60%.Noble's revenue was down 17.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.56 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts expect that Noble Corporation PLC will post 2.99 earnings per share for the current year.
Noble Dividend Announcement
The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 19th. Investors of record on Wednesday, March 4th will be paid a $0.50 dividend. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.5%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, March 4th. Noble's payout ratio is currently 148.15%.
Institutional Trading of Noble
A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of NE. Westside Investment Management Inc. lifted its position in Noble by 156.4% during the third quarter. Westside Investment Management Inc. now owns 864 shares of the company's stock valued at $25,000 after purchasing an additional 527 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its holdings in shares of Noble by 77.8% in the 4th quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,440 shares of the company's stock worth $41,000 after buying an additional 630 shares during the last quarter. Salomon & Ludwin LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Noble during the 3rd quarter valued at $40,000. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC raised 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 valued at $69,000 after buying an additional 2,318 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Systematic Financial Management LP lifted its holdings in shares of Noble by 0.8% during the 2nd quarter. Systematic Financial Management LP now owns 540,535 shares of the company's stock worth $14,351,000 after acquiring an additional 4,435 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 68.14% of the company's stock.
Key Noble News
Here are the key news stories impacting Noble this week:
- Neutral Sentiment: The company is mentioned in a MarketBeat roundup about dividend and defensive stocks, but Noble (NE) is not a featured pick in that piece — limited direct impact on NE's near-term outlook.
- Negative Sentiment: Barclays cut Noble from Overweight to Equal Weight while raising its price target to $41 (from $36), signaling a more cautious view despite the higher PT; the $41 PT implies downside versus recent levels and likely weighs on sentiment. Barclays downgrades Noble (The Fly)
- Negative Sentiment: JPMorgan raised its price target on NE to $41 (from $33) but kept a Neutral rating — the higher PT is constructive on valuation but still implies roughly an 8% downside from recent levels, a mixed-to-negative signal for upside expectations. JPMorgan raises price target (Benzinga)
- Negative Sentiment: Several senior Noble executives disclosed material stock sales this week (Blake Denton sold 23,255 shares at ~$43.50; Joey M. Kawaja sold 19,725 shares at ~$43.51; Jennie Howard, Mikkel Ipsen, Caroline Alting also sold shares). These filings show notable reductions in insider ownership percentages and can be interpreted as a near-term negative signal for investor sentiment. Insider sale filing (SEC - Blake Denton)
Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades
NE has been the subject of several recent research reports. Barclays downgraded shares of Noble from an "overweight" rating to an "equal weight" rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $36.00 to $41.00 in a research note on Wednesday. Susquehanna lifted their price objective on shares of Noble from $32.00 to $45.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Friday, February 13th. BTIG Research increased their target price on Noble from $35.00 to $42.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Monday, February 2nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on Noble from $33.00 to $41.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Tuesday. Finally, Fearnley Fonds lowered Noble from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 11th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, ten have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $38.63.
Read Our Latest Report on NE
About Noble
(
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Noble Corp. Plc engages in the provision offshore drilling services for oil and gas industry. It focuses on a balanced fleet of floating and jackup rigs and the deployment of drilling rigs in oil and gas basins around the world. The company was founded by Lloyd Noble and Art Olson in 1921 and is headquartered in London, the United Kingdom.
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