Noble (NYSE:NE) Given New $45.00 Price Target at Citigroup

Noble (NYSE:NE) had its target price reduced by stock analysts at Citigroup from $52.00 to $45.00 in a report issued on Tuesday,Benzinga reports. The firm presently has a “neutral” rating on the stock. Citigroup’s price objective suggests a potential upside of 20.45% from the company’s previous close.

A number of other brokerages have also recently commented on NE. Barclays raised shares of Noble from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and upped their price target for the company from $50.00 to $56.00 in a research report on Thursday, May 7th. Wall Street Zen raised Noble from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, May 2nd. Weiss Ratings downgraded Noble from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 29th. Susquehanna upped their target price on Noble from $45.00 to $50.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 7th. Finally, Zacks Research raised Noble from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 19th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and nine have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $44.50.

Noble Trading Down 2.0%

Shares of NYSE NE traded down $0.76 during midday trading on Tuesday, reaching $37.36. The stock had a trading volume of 1,456,946 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,849,095. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $47.58 and its 200 day moving average price is $42.47. 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 has a twelve month low of $25.24 and a twelve month high of $54.98. The firm has a market cap of $5.96 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.13 and a beta of 0.89.

Noble (NYSE:NE) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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 net margin of 7.17% and a return on equity of 2.32%. The company had revenue of $785.69 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $730.47 million. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.26 earnings per share. Noble’s revenue for the quarter was down 10.1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Noble will post 0.94 EPS for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Noble

In other news, Director Al J. Hirshberg sold 5,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $52.62, for a total value of $263,100.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 27,803 shares in the company, valued at $1,462,993.86. This trade represents a 15.24% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Robert W. Eifler sold 50,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $45.51, for a total value of $2,275,500.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 1,193,828 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $54,331,112.28. The trade was a 4.02% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last quarter, insiders sold 143,550 shares of company stock valued at $6,985,436. 1.50% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Noble

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Hosking Partners LLP increased its holdings 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 valued at $32,203,000 after acquiring an additional 103,477 shares in the last quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. raised 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 purchasing an additional 24,725 shares during the period. SG Americas Securities LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Noble by 424.2% in the 4th quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 440,342 shares of the company’s stock worth $12,435,000 after purchasing an additional 356,333 shares in the last quarter. Sagefield Capital LP grew its holdings in shares of Noble by 40.0% during the fourth quarter. Sagefield Capital LP now owns 182,844 shares of the company’s stock valued at $5,164,000 after buying an additional 52,261 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Hara Capital LLC bought a new stake in shares of Noble during the fourth quarter worth about $4,902,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 68.14% of the company’s stock.

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.