Charles Sledge Sells 724 Shares of Noble (NYSE:NE) Stock

Noble Corporation PLC (NYSE:NE) Director Charles Sledge sold 724 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $51.61, for a total value of $37,365.64. Following the transaction, the director owned 1,360 shares in the company, valued at approximately $70,189.60. This represents a 34.74% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link.

Noble Stock Up 2.4%

Shares of NYSE NE opened at $52.49 on Friday. Noble Corporation PLC has a 1 year low of $22.37 and a 1 year high of $54.57. The firm has a market cap of $8.37 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.71 and a beta of 0.94. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.42, a quick ratio of 1.99 and a current ratio of 1.99. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $48.61 and its 200-day simple moving average is $38.87.

Noble (NYSE:NE) last announced its earnings results on Monday, April 27th. The company reported $0.26 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates 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 for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $730.47 million. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.26 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 10.1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Noble Corporation PLC will post 0.93 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Noble Announces Dividend

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 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.8%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, June 4th. Noble’s payout ratio is presently 139.86%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on NE. Evercore set a $59.00 target price on Noble in a research report on Monday, April 27th. Zacks Research lowered Noble from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research report on Monday, April 20th. SEB Equity Research set a $33.00 target price on Noble in a research report on Tuesday, January 27th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on Noble from $33.00 to $41.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 17th. Finally, Wall Street Zen raised Noble from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, May 2nd. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eight have given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $45.38.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Noble

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Hosking Partners LLP boosted its stake in Noble by 10.0% in the fourth quarter. Hosking Partners LLP now owns 1,140,328 shares of the company’s stock valued at $32,203,000 after acquiring an additional 103,477 shares during the period. Russell Investments Group Ltd. boosted its position 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 buying an additional 24,725 shares during the period. SG Americas Securities LLC boosted its position 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 buying an additional 356,333 shares during the period. Sagefield Capital LP boosted its position 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 buying an additional 52,261 shares during the period. Finally, Hara Capital LLC acquired a new stake in Noble in the fourth quarter worth approximately $4,902,000. 68.14% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.