Noble Corporation PLC $NE Shares Purchased by Ethic Inc.

Ethic Inc. raised its stake in Noble Corporation PLC (NYSE:NE) by 331.2% in the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 37,190 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 28,566 shares during the quarter. Ethic Inc.’s holdings in Noble were worth $1,552,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of NE. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB bought a new position in shares of Noble in the third quarter valued at approximately $40,000. Versant Capital Management Inc grew its holdings in Noble by 44.4% during the second quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 1,243 shares of the company’s stock worth $46,000 after buying an additional 382 shares in the last quarter. Bell Investment Advisors Inc bought a new stake in Noble during the third quarter worth $68,000. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC purchased a new stake in Noble in the 2nd quarter valued at $118,000. Finally, Parallel Advisors LLC raised its position in Noble by 43.7% in the 1st quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 2,693 shares of the company’s stock valued at $132,000 after buying an additional 819 shares during the last quarter. 68.14% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

NE has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Noble Financial began coverage on Noble in a research note on Thursday, October 29th. They set an “outperform” rating on the stock. Citigroup lifted their price objective on shares of Noble from $50.00 to $52.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, October 29th. Barclays reduced their target price on shares of Noble from $55.00 to $53.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, July 30th. Fearnley Fonds upgraded shares of Noble from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 29th. Finally, Zacks Research lowered shares of Noble from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research report on Monday. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, three have given a Buy rating, three have issued a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Noble currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $46.57.

Noble Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE NE opened at $42.55 on Friday. Noble Corporation PLC has a twelve month low of $27.67 and a twelve month high of $54.98. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $43.81 and its 200-day moving average price is $44.79. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.44, a quick ratio of 1.76 and a current ratio of 1.76.

Noble (NYSE:NE) last released its earnings results on Monday, October 26th. The company reported ($0.57) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.23 by ($0.80). The business had revenue of $728.76 million during 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 business’s revenue was down 8.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned ($0.13) earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts predict that Noble Corporation PLC will post -0.28 EPS for the current year.

Noble Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 17th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, November 25th will be given a $0.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, November 25th. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.7%. Noble’s payout ratio is currently 606.06%.

Noble Profile

Noble Corporation plc, operating as Noble (NYSE: NE), provides contract drilling services to the offshore oil and gas industry. The company owns and operates a fleet of mobile offshore drilling units, including drillships, semisubmersible rigs and jackup rigs, and provides related services to energy companies exploring for and producing oil and natural gas. Noble serves customers in offshore markets around the world. Its operations support drilling in a range of water depths and environments, from shallow-water projects to deepwater and ultra-deepwater developments.