Noble (NYSE:NE) Upgraded to “Hold” at Zacks Research

Zacks Research upgraded shares of Noble (NYSE:NE) from a strong sell rating to a hold rating in a research report released on Tuesday,Zacks.com reports.

Other research analysts have also recently issued research reports about the company. SEB Equity Research set a $33.00 price target on Noble in a research note on Tuesday, January 27th. Citigroup increased their price target on Noble from $50.00 to $52.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 5th. Susquehanna increased their price target on Noble from $45.00 to $50.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 7th. BTIG Research increased their price target on Noble from $35.00 to $42.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, February 2nd. Finally, Weiss Ratings cut Noble from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 29th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and nine have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Noble presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $45.38.

Noble Price Performance

Shares of NE opened at $54.01 on Tuesday. Noble has a 12 month low of $22.37 and a 12 month high of $54.98. The company has a market cap of $8.62 billion, a P/E ratio of 37.77 and a beta of 0.94. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $49.31 and a 200 day moving average price of $39.55. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.42, a current ratio of 1.99 and a quick ratio of 1.99.

Noble (NYSE:NE) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, April 27th. The company reported $0.26 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.21 by $0.05. Noble had a return on equity of 2.32% and a net margin of 7.17%.The company had revenue of $785.69 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $730.47 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $0.26 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 10.1% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts forecast that Noble will post 0.93 earnings per share for the current year.

Noble Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 25th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, June 4th will be issued a $0.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, June 4th. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.7%. Noble’s dividend payout ratio is 139.86%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Charles M. Sledge sold 724 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $51.61, for a total value of $37,365.64. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 1,360 shares in the company, valued at $70,189.60. This represents a 34.74% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, SVP Jennie Howard sold 2,486 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, April 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $51.08, for a total value of $126,984.88. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president owned 15,676 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $800,730.08. This trade represents a 13.69% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 343,550 shares of company stock valued at $16,366,436. 1.50% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Noble

Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. SG Americas Securities LLC lifted its position in shares of Noble by 424.2% during the 4th 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. Hara Capital LLC bought a new position in shares of Noble during the 4th quarter worth approximately $4,902,000. Natixis Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Noble during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $3,935,000. Hosking Partners LLP lifted its position in shares of Noble by 10.0% during the 4th quarter. Hosking Partners LLP now owns 1,140,328 shares of the company’s stock worth $32,203,000 after buying an additional 103,477 shares during the period. Finally, Sagefield Capital LP lifted its position in shares of Noble by 40.0% during the 4th 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. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 68.14% of the company’s stock.

Noble Company Profile

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.