Noble Corporation PLC (NYSE:NE) Receives Consensus Recommendation of "Hold" from Brokerages

Noble Corporation PLC (NYSE:NE - Get Free Report) has been assigned an average rating of "Hold" from the nine ratings firms that are presently covering the stock, Marketbeat Ratings reports. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, five have issued a hold recommendation, two have assigned a buy recommendation and one has issued a strong buy recommendation on the company. The average twelve-month price objective among analysts that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $44.7143.

NE has been the topic of a number of research reports. Fearnley Fonds raised shares of Noble from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 29th. Barclays lowered 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. Wall Street Zen cut Noble from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a research report on Saturday, August 1st. Zacks Research lowered Noble from a "hold" rating to a "strong sell" rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 22nd. Finally, Weiss Ratings restated a "hold (c)" rating on shares of Noble in a research note on Friday, July 24th.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Noble news, CEO Robert Eifler sold 50,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Monday, June 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $45.51, for a total transaction of $2,275,500.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 1,193,828 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $54,331,112.28. This trade represents a 4.02% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Corporate insiders own 1.50% of the company's stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Versant Capital Management Inc boosted its stake 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 acquiring an additional 382 shares in the last quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC increased its stake 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 purchasing an additional 2,318 shares in the last quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Noble by 43.7% during the first 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. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC purchased a new position in shares of Noble during the first quarter valued at approximately $218,000. Finally, Strs Ohio bought a new stake in shares of Noble in the 1st quarter worth approximately $142,000. 68.14% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Noble Stock Performance

Shares of NE stock opened at $45.60 on Monday. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $42.50 and a 200 day moving average of $45.75. Noble has a 52 week low of $26.69 and a 52 week high of $54.98. The firm has a market capitalization of $7.28 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 49.03 and a beta of 0.92. The company has a quick ratio of 1.91, a current ratio of 1.91 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.42.

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

Noble Announces Dividend

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

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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