17,636 Shares of Noble Corporation PLC $NE Purchased by ProShare Advisors LLC

ProShare Advisors LLC bought a new position in Noble Corporation PLC (NYSE:NE) in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm bought 17,636 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $736,000.

A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in NE. First Eagle Investment Management LLC grew its holdings in Noble by 2.9% during the 2nd quarter. First Eagle Investment Management LLC now owns 13,957,162 shares of the company’s stock valued at $520,602,000 after purchasing an additional 395,316 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp lifted its stake in Noble by 4.1% in the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 5,428,507 shares of the company’s stock worth $202,483,000 after purchasing an additional 215,799 shares during the last quarter. Avidian Wealth Enterprises LLC bought a new stake in Noble in the third quarter worth about $55,802,000. Bank of America Corp DE lifted its stake in Noble by 101.9% in the second quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 1,347,291 shares of the company’s stock worth $50,254,000 after purchasing an additional 679,981 shares during the last quarter. Finally, CWA Asset Management Group LLC lifted its stake in Noble by 1.9% in the third quarter. CWA Asset Management Group LLC now owns 761,190 shares of the company’s stock worth $31,772,000 after purchasing an additional 14,231 shares during the last quarter. 68.14% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Noble Trading Up 2.7%

NYSE NE opened at $40.98 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $6.54 billion, a PE ratio of 124.17 and a beta of 1.05. Noble Corporation PLC has a 12 month low of $27.67 and a 12 month high of $54.98. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $44.20 and its 200-day moving average price is $44.64. The company has a current ratio of 1.76, a quick ratio of 1.76 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.44.

Noble (NYSE:NE) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Monday, October 26th. The company reported ($0.57) earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.23 by ($0.80). The company had revenue of $728.76 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $713.82 million. Noble had a net margin of 1.79% and a negative return on equity of 0.76%. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 8.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned ($0.13) EPS. Equities research analysts forecast that Noble Corporation PLC will post 0.11 earnings per share for the current year.

Noble Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 17th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, November 25th will be paid a dividend of $0.50 per share. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.9%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, November 25th. Noble’s payout ratio is currently 606.06%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have recently commented on NE. Citigroup upped their target price on Noble from $50.00 to $52.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 29th. Susquehanna increased their price target on Noble from $44.00 to $46.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 28th. Fearnley Fonds raised Noble from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 29th. Weiss Ratings cut Noble from a “hold (c)” rating to a “sell (d+)” rating in a report on Wednesday. Finally, Zacks Research upgraded Noble from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, October 9th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, three have issued a Buy rating, four have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Noble has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $46.57.

About Noble

Noble Corporation plc (NYSE: NE) is an offshore drilling contractor that provides drilling services to the global oil and gas industry. The company operates a fleet of offshore drilling units, including drillships, semisubmersible rigs and jackup rigs, which are used to explore for and develop oil and natural gas reserves beneath the seabed.

Noble’s services include contract drilling, well planning, project management and other related support services. Its drilling units are designed to operate in a range of offshore environments, including deepwater and harsh-environment locations.