Insider Selling: Noble (NYSE:NE) SVP Sells $1,994,000.00 in Stock

Noble Corporation PLC (NYSE:NE) SVP Joey Kawaja sold 40,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $49.85, for a total value of $1,994,000.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president owned 40,071 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,997,539.35. This represents a 49.96% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website.

Noble Trading Up 3.9%

Shares of Noble stock opened at $50.35 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $8.03 billion, a P/E ratio of 35.21 and a beta of 0.94. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $48.04 and its 200-day simple moving average is $38.09. Noble Corporation PLC has a 1-year low of $22.37 and a 1-year high of $54.57. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.42, a current ratio of 1.99 and a quick ratio of 1.99.

Noble (NYSE:NE) last issued 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. The business had revenue of $785.69 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $730.47 million. Noble had a return on equity of 2.32% and a net margin of 7.17%.The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 10.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.26 EPS. Analysts predict that Noble Corporation PLC will post 0.93 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Noble Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared 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 4.0%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, June 4th. Noble’s payout ratio is presently 139.86%.

Institutional Trading of Noble

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in NE. Westside Investment Management Inc. raised its position in Noble by 156.4% in 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 period. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its position in Noble by 77.8% in the fourth quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,440 shares of the company’s stock valued at $41,000 after purchasing an additional 630 shares during the period. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 2,318 shares during the period. Parallel Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Noble by 43.7% during the first quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 2,693 shares of the company’s stock worth $132,000 after acquiring an additional 819 shares during the period. Finally, Strs Ohio purchased a new stake in shares of Noble during the first quarter worth $142,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 68.14% of the company’s stock.

More Noble News

Here are the key news stories impacting Noble this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Barclays upgraded Noble Corporation PLC (NE) from “equal weight” to “overweight” and lifted its price target to $56 from $50, signaling increased confidence in the company’s upside potential. Barclays upgrades Noble (NE)
• Positive Sentiment: Shareholders backed Noble’s board and governance framework, which may reduce uncertainty around corporate oversight and support management stability. Noble Corporation Shareholders Back Board, Governance Framework
• Neutral Sentiment: The company also reported that a special shareholder meeting approved an arrangement and reduction of stated capital, alongside agreements with marketing consultants; this is more of a corporate action update than a direct operating driver. Noble Announces Results of the Special Meeting of Shareholders and Agreements with Marketing Consultants
• Neutral Sentiment: Two senior vice presidents sold shares this week, which may weigh on sentiment slightly, but insider sales do not necessarily indicate a change in business fundamentals. Noble (NYSE:NE) SVP Sells $1,479,300.00 in Stock
• Negative Sentiment: SVP Blake Denton sold 30,000 shares, and SVP Joey M. Kawaja sold 40,000 shares, adding a modest headwind to investor sentiment as the stock trades near its recent highs. Noble (NYSE:NE) SVP Sells $1,479,300.00 in Stock

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have recently commented on the stock. Susquehanna lifted their price target on shares of Noble from $45.00 to $50.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 7th. Barclays raised shares of Noble from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and lifted their price target for the company from $50.00 to $56.00 in a research report on Thursday. Weiss Ratings lowered shares of Noble from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 29th. SEB Equity Research set a $33.00 price target on shares of Noble in a research report on Tuesday, January 27th. Finally, Zacks Research lowered shares of Noble from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research report on Monday, April 20th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eight have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Noble presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $45.38.

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.