Insider Selling: Noble (NYSE:NE) SVP Sells 23,255 Shares of Stock

Noble Corporation PLC (NYSE:NE) SVP Blake Denton sold 23,255 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $43.50, for a total value of $1,011,592.50. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president owned 79,261 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,447,853.50. This represents a 22.68% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink.

Noble Stock Performance

Shares of Noble stock traded up $0.42 during trading on Thursday, reaching $44.68. The stock had a trading volume of 639,609 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,321,360. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43, a current ratio of 1.67 and a quick ratio of 1.67. The firm has a market cap of $7.11 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.12 and a beta of 1.12. Noble Corporation PLC has a 52 week low of $17.40 and a 52 week high of $46.31.

Noble (NYSE:NE) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, February 11th. The company reported $0.09 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.15 by ($0.06). Noble had a net margin of 6.60% and a return on equity of 2.34%. The firm had revenue of $764.41 million during the quarter. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.56 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 17.6% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts predict that Noble Corporation PLC will post 2.99 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Noble Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 19th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, March 4th will be paid a dividend of $0.50 per share. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.5%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, March 4th. Noble’s payout ratio is currently 148.15%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Noble

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Westside Investment Management Inc. lifted its holdings 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 buying an additional 527 shares during the period. Salomon & Ludwin LLC bought a new position in shares of Noble during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $40,000. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its holdings in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 630 shares in the last quarter. 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 valued at $69,000 after acquiring an additional 2,318 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Strs Ohio purchased a new position in Noble in the first quarter worth $142,000. Institutional investors own 68.14% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. BTIG Research raised their target price on shares of Noble from $35.00 to $42.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, February 2nd. Zacks Research raised shares of Noble from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, February 9th. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Noble in a research report on Monday, December 29th. Fearnley Fonds downgraded shares of Noble from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 11th. Finally, Citigroup dropped their price objective on Noble from $34.00 to $32.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, December 11th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, ten have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Noble presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $38.63.

Noble Company Profile

Noble Corp. Plc engages in the provision offshore drilling services for oil and gas industry. It focuses on a balanced fleet of floating and jackup rigs and the deployment of drilling rigs in oil and gas basins around the world. The company was founded by Lloyd Noble and Art Olson in 1921 and is headquartered in London, the United Kingdom.