Key Points
- Director Al Hirshberg sold 5,000 shares of Noble on May 15 at an average price of $52.62, reducing his holdings by 15.24%. The sale was worth $263,100 and was disclosed in an SEC filing.
- Noble stock rose 2.8% and was trading near its 52-week high, opening at $54.36 versus a 52-week range of $22.37 to $54.61. The company also has a market cap of $8.67 billion and a 3.7% dividend yield.
- Recent earnings beat estimates, with Noble reporting $0.26 EPS versus $0.21 expected and revenue of $785.69 million. Analysts currently have a consensus “Hold” rating on the stock, with an average price target of $45.38.
Noble Corporation PLC (NYSE:NE - Get Free Report) Director Al Hirshberg sold 5,000 shares of Noble stock in a transaction on Friday, May 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $52.62, for a total value of $263,100.00. Following the sale, the director owned 27,803 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,462,993.86. This trade represents a 15.24% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website.
Noble Stock Up 2.8%
NYSE:NE opened at $54.36 on Tuesday. Noble Corporation PLC has a twelve month low of $22.37 and a twelve month high of $54.61. The company has a market cap of $8.67 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 38.02 and a beta of 0.94. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $48.94 and a 200-day simple moving average of $39.20. The company has a current ratio of 1.99, a quick ratio of 1.99 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.42.
Noble (NYSE:NE - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Monday, April 27th. The company reported $0.26 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.21 by $0.05. Noble had a return on equity of 2.32% and a net margin of 7.17%.The business had revenue of $785.69 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $730.47 million. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.26 earnings per share. The business's revenue for the quarter was down 10.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts anticipate that Noble Corporation PLC will post 0.93 EPS for the current year.
Noble Dividend Announcement
The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 25th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, June 4th will be given a dividend of $0.50 per share. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.7%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, June 4th. Noble's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 139.86%.
Hedge Funds Weigh In On Noble
Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Hosking Partners LLP grew its stake in shares of Noble by 10.0% during the fourth quarter. Hosking Partners LLP now owns 1,140,328 shares of the company's stock worth $32,203,000 after acquiring an additional 103,477 shares during the last quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. grew its stake in shares of Noble by 2.8% during the fourth quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 911,491 shares of the company's stock worth $25,740,000 after acquiring an additional 24,725 shares during the last quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC grew its stake in shares of Noble by 424.2% during the fourth quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 440,342 shares of the company's stock worth $12,435,000 after acquiring an additional 356,333 shares during the last quarter. Sagefield Capital LP grew its stake in shares of Noble by 40.0% during the fourth quarter. Sagefield Capital LP now owns 182,844 shares of the company's stock worth $5,164,000 after acquiring an additional 52,261 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Hara Capital LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Noble during the fourth quarter worth about $4,902,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 68.14% of the company's stock.
Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades
Several research firms recently weighed in on NE. Weiss Ratings downgraded Noble from a "hold (c+)" rating to a "hold (c)" rating in a report on Wednesday, April 29th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on Noble from $33.00 to $41.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Tuesday, February 17th. Evercore set a $59.00 price objective on Noble in a report on Monday, April 27th. Barclays upgraded Noble from an "equal weight" rating to an "overweight" rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $50.00 to $56.00 in a report on Thursday, May 7th. Finally, BTIG Research lifted their price objective on Noble from $35.00 to $42.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Monday, February 2nd. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eight have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $45.38.
Check Out Our Latest Report on Noble
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.
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