Noble Corporation PLC (NYSE:NE) Receives Average Recommendation of “Hold” from Analysts

Shares of Noble Corporation PLC (NYSE:NE) have earned an average recommendation of “Hold” from the ten analysts that are presently covering the firm, MarketBeat reports. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating, two have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. The average 1 year price target among brokers that have covered the stock in the last year is $44.7143.

NE has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Susquehanna decreased their price target on shares of Noble from $55.00 to $40.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, July 8th. Barclays reduced their price objective on shares of Noble from $55.00 to $53.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, July 30th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Noble in a research report on Friday, July 24th. Evercore set a $59.00 target price on shares of Noble in a research note on Monday, April 27th. Finally, Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Noble from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Saturday, August 1st.

Noble Trading Up 0.4%

Noble stock opened at $45.27 on Thursday. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $41.58 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $45.11. The company has a quick ratio of 1.91, a current ratio of 1.91 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.42. The stock has a market cap of $7.23 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 48.68 and a beta of 0.93. Noble has a 12 month low of $26.20 and a 12 month high of $54.98.

Noble (NYSE:NE) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Monday, July 27th. The company reported $0.01 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.15 by ($0.14). The firm had revenue of $719.69 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $697.98 million. Noble had a return on equity of 1.93% and a net margin of 4.88%.Noble’s revenue for the quarter was down 15.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.27 EPS. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Noble will post 0.54 EPS for the current year.

Noble Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 24th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, September 3rd will be paid a $0.50 dividend. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.4%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, September 3rd. Noble’s dividend payout ratio is currently 215.05%.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Robert W. Eifler sold 50,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $45.51, for a total value of $2,275,500.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 1,193,828 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $54,331,112.28. This represents a 4.02% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Insiders own 1.50% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Noble

Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Bank of America Corp DE raised its stake in Noble by 101.9% during the second quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 1,347,291 shares of the company’s stock worth $50,254,000 after acquiring an additional 679,981 shares in the last quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc grew its holdings in shares of Noble by 44.4% in the 2nd quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 1,243 shares of the company’s stock worth $46,000 after purchasing an additional 382 shares during the last quarter. Rathbones Group PLC acquired a new stake in shares of Noble during the 1st quarter worth about $308,000. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in Noble by 20.4% during the 1st quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 3,080 shares of the company’s stock valued at $151,000 after purchasing an additional 521 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Parallel Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in Noble by 43.7% during the 1st quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 2,693 shares of the company’s stock valued at $132,000 after purchasing an additional 819 shares during the last quarter. 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.