Key Points
- CEO Robert Eifler sold 100,000 shares on March 18 at an average price of $46.62 for $4.662M, trimming his stake by 7.44% to 1,243,828 shares (worth ≈$57.99M).
- Noble missed quarterly expectations, reporting $0.09 EPS vs. $0.15 consensus and revenue of $764.41M, down 17.6% year-over-year.
- The company paid a quarterly dividend of $0.50 (annualized $2.00) for a ~4.2% yield, but the payout ratio is a high 148.15%, signaling potential sustainability concerns.
Noble Corporation PLC (NYSE:NE - Get Free Report) CEO Robert Eifler sold 100,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $46.62, for a total value of $4,662,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 1,243,828 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $57,987,261.36. This trade represents a 7.44% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link.
Noble Trading Up 2.5%
Shares of NE stock opened at $47.80 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43, a quick ratio of 1.67 and a current ratio of 1.67. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $40.65 and a 200-day moving average of $33.37. Noble Corporation PLC has a 52-week low of $17.40 and a 52-week high of $48.59. The stock has a market cap of $7.62 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.41 and a beta of 1.07.
Noble (NYSE:NE - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 11th. The company reported $0.09 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.15 by ($0.06). Noble had a return on equity of 2.34% and a net margin of 6.60%.The business had revenue of $764.41 million during the quarter. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.56 earnings per share. The firm's quarterly revenue was down 17.6% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Noble Corporation PLC will post 2.99 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.
Noble Dividend Announcement
The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 19th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, March 4th were paid a $0.50 dividend. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.2%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, March 4th. Noble's payout ratio is currently 148.15%.
Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades
Several research firms have recently weighed in on NE. Evercore set a $45.00 price objective on shares of Noble in a report on Friday, February 13th. BTIG Research lifted their price objective on Noble from $35.00 to $42.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Monday, February 2nd. Weiss Ratings restated a "hold (c)" rating on shares of Noble in a report on Monday, December 29th. Barclays cut Noble from an "overweight" rating to an "equal weight" rating and lifted their price target for the company from $36.00 to $41.00 in a report on Wednesday, February 18th. Finally, Citigroup decreased their price objective on shares of Noble from $34.00 to $32.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, December 11th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, ten have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Noble has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $38.63.
Check Out Our Latest Research Report on Noble
Institutional Trading of Noble
A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Strs Ohio bought a new stake in shares of Noble during the 1st quarter valued at $142,000. Systematic Financial Management LP lifted its stake in Noble by 0.8% in the second quarter. Systematic Financial Management LP now owns 540,535 shares of the company's stock valued at $14,351,000 after buying an additional 4,435 shares during the period. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Noble by 819.1% during the second quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 2,601 shares of the company's stock worth $69,000 after buying an additional 2,318 shares during the last quarter. Hara Capital LLC grew its position in shares of Noble by 4.9% during the 2nd quarter. Hara Capital LLC now owns 194,482 shares of the company's stock worth $5,163,000 after buying an additional 9,116 shares during the period. Finally, Captrust Financial Advisors bought a new stake in shares of Noble in the 2nd quarter valued at about $359,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 68.14% of the company's stock.
Noble Company Profile
(
Get Free Report)
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.
Further Reading
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