Citigroup Lowers Noble (NYSE:NE) Price Target to $45.00

Key Points

• Citigroup cut its price target on Noble from $52 to $45 while keeping a neutral rating, implying about 20% upside from the current share price.
• Wall Street’s overall view remains cautious: Noble now has a consensus Hold rating and an average price target of $44.50, even after Barclays upgraded the stock to overweight and raised its target.
• Noble reported better-than-expected quarterly earnings, with EPS of $0.26 versus estimates of $0.21 and revenue of $785.69 million, though revenue still fell 10.1% year over year.

Noble (NYSE:NE - Get Free Report) had its price target lowered by analysts at Citigroup from $52.00 to $45.00 in a note issued to investors on Tuesday,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has a "neutral" rating on the stock. Citigroup's target price would indicate a potential upside of 20.45% from the company's current price.

Several other analysts also recently weighed in on the company. Barclays upgraded Noble from an "equal weight" rating to an "overweight" rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $50.00 to $56.00 in a research report on Thursday, May 7th. Weiss Ratings downgraded Noble from a "hold (c+)" rating to a "hold (c)" rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 29th. Zacks Research raised shares of Noble from a "strong sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Tuesday, May 19th. Evercore set a $59.00 price target on shares of Noble in a research note on Monday, April 27th. Finally, Wall Street Zen raised shares of Noble from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Saturday, May 2nd. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and nine have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Noble presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $44.50.

Noble Price Performance

Shares of NYSE NE traded down $0.76 during trading hours on Tuesday, hitting $37.36. 1,456,946 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,849,095. The company's fifty day simple moving average is $47.58 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $42.47. The company has a market cap of $5.96 billion, a PE ratio of 26.13 and a beta of 0.89. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.42, a quick ratio of 1.99 and a current ratio of 1.99. Noble has a 1-year low of $25.24 and a 1-year high of $54.98.

Noble (NYSE:NE - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Monday, April 27th. The company reported $0.26 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.21 by $0.05. The business had revenue of $785.69 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $730.47 million. Noble had a net margin of 7.17% and a return on equity of 2.32%. The company's revenue was down 10.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.26 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Noble will post 0.94 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Noble news, SVP Blake Denton sold 30,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $49.31, for a total transaction of $1,479,300.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president directly owned 29,927 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,475,700.37. The trade was a 50.06% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Al J. Hirshberg sold 5,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $52.62, for a total transaction of $263,100.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 27,803 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,462,993.86. This trade represents a 15.24% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders have sold a total of 143,550 shares of company stock valued at $6,985,436 over the last three months. Insiders own 1.50% of the company's stock.

Institutional Trading of Noble

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its position in Noble by 77.8% during the 4th quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,440 shares of the company's stock worth $41,000 after purchasing an additional 630 shares during the last quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of Noble by 819.1% in the 2nd quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 2,601 shares of the company's stock valued at $69,000 after buying an additional 2,318 shares during the last quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Noble by 43.7% in the first 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 period. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Noble in the first quarter valued at about $218,000. Finally, Strs Ohio bought a new position in shares of Noble during the first quarter worth about $142,000. 68.14% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.

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