Noble Corporation PLC $NE Shares Sold by Systematic Financial Management LP

Systematic Financial Management LP trimmed its position in shares of Noble Corporation PLC (NYSE:NE) by 1.9% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 521,753 shares of the company’s stock after selling 10,011 shares during the period. Systematic Financial Management LP’s holdings in Noble were worth $14,734,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Westside Investment Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Noble by 156.4% during the 3rd quarter. Westside Investment Management Inc. now owns 864 shares of the company’s stock worth $25,000 after buying an additional 527 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its holdings in Noble by 77.8% in the 4th quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,440 shares of the company’s stock valued at $41,000 after purchasing an additional 630 shares in the last quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Noble by 819.1% in the 2nd quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 2,601 shares of the company’s stock valued at $69,000 after purchasing an additional 2,318 shares in the last quarter. Strs Ohio acquired a new stake in Noble in the 1st quarter valued at $142,000. Finally, Russell Investments Group Ltd. increased its holdings in Noble by 1.1% in the 3rd quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 886,766 shares of the company’s stock valued at $25,078,000 after purchasing an additional 9,442 shares in the last quarter. 68.14% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Noble Stock Performance

Shares of Noble stock opened at $52.03 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.42, a quick ratio of 1.99 and a current ratio of 1.99. Noble Corporation PLC has a 1 year low of $22.69 and a 1 year high of $54.98. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $49.59 and its 200-day simple moving average is $39.87. The firm has a market cap of $8.30 billion, a PE ratio of 36.39 and a beta of 0.94.

Noble (NYSE:NE) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Monday, April 27th. The company reported $0.26 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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 for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $730.47 million. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.26 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 10.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts forecast that Noble Corporation PLC will post 0.93 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Noble Announces Dividend

The business 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. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, June 4th. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.8%. Noble’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 139.86%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Noble

In other news, CEO Robert W. Eifler sold 100,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $46.62, for a total transaction of $4,662,000.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer 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 SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Caroline Alting sold 15,340 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $52.75, for a total transaction of $809,185.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 8,170 shares in the company, valued at $430,967.50. The trade was a 65.25% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 343,550 shares of company stock valued at $16,366,436. Corporate insiders own 1.50% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

NE has been the subject of several recent research reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target 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 target on Noble in a report on Monday, April 27th. Fearnley Fonds downgraded Noble from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 11th. Wall Street Zen upgraded Noble from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, May 2nd. Finally, Barclays upgraded Noble from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and raised their target price for the company from $50.00 to $56.00 in a research note on Thursday, May 7th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and nine have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus 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.