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

Noble Corporation PLC (NYSE:NE) SVP Caroline Alting sold 15,340 shares of Noble stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $52.75, for a total value of $809,185.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president owned 8,170 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $430,967.50. This represents a 65.25% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link.

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

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

Noble Trading Up 1.8%

Shares of Noble stock traded up $0.89 during mid-day trading on Thursday, hitting $51.19. 2,223,660 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,016,286. The stock has a market capitalization of $8.17 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.80 and a beta of 1.00. Noble Corporation PLC has a twelve month low of $21.75 and a twelve month high of $54.57. 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 company has a 50-day simple moving average of $47.82 and a 200 day simple moving average of $37.50.

Noble (NYSE:NE) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Monday, April 27th. The company reported $0.26 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.21 by $0.05. Noble had a net margin of 7.17% and a return on equity of 2.32%. The business had revenue of $785.69 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $730.80 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.26 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was down 10.1% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts forecast that Noble Corporation PLC will post 1.06 EPS for the current year.

Noble Announces Dividend

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

Institutional Trading of Noble

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Strs Ohio purchased a new stake in Noble during the first quarter valued at about $142,000. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Noble by 819.1% in the 2nd quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 2,601 shares of the company’s stock worth $69,000 after purchasing an additional 2,318 shares during the period. Captrust Financial Advisors purchased a new position in shares of Noble in the 2nd quarter worth about $359,000. Yousif Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Noble in the 3rd quarter valued at about $1,095,000. Finally, Salomon & Ludwin LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Noble during the 3rd quarter worth about $40,000. 68.14% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

NE has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Evercore set a $59.00 price target on Noble in a research note on Monday. Barclays increased their price target on Noble from $41.00 to $50.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday. BTIG Research increased their price target on Noble from $35.00 to $42.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, February 2nd. Weiss Ratings lowered Noble from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Finally, Zacks Research lowered Noble from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research note on Monday, April 20th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, nine have assigned a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Noble has a consensus rating of “Reduce” and an average price target of $44.38.

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.