Noble Corporation PLC (NYSE:NE) Shares to Pay Quarterly Dividend of $0.50

Key Points

• Noble declared a quarterly dividend of $0.50 per share, payable December 17 to shareholders of record November 25. The dividend annualizes to $2.00 per share and yields approximately 4.2%.
• The current payout ratio is 71.7%, but analysts expect next year’s earnings of $1.97 per share, implying a potentially unsustainable future payout ratio of 101.5%.
• Noble’s latest results missed earnings expectations, reporting a $0.57 per-share loss versus the anticipated $0.23 profit, while revenue of $728.76 million exceeded estimates but fell 8.6% year over year.

Noble Corporation PLC (NYSE:NE - Get Free Report) announced a quarterly dividend on Monday, October 26th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, November 25th will be paid a dividend of $0.50 per share on Thursday, December 17th. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.2%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, November 25th.

Noble has a payout ratio of 71.7% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Analysts expect Noble to earn $1.97 per share next year, which means the company may not be able to cover its $2.00 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 101.5%.

Noble Trading Up 0.7%

Shares of Noble stock opened at $48.02 on Tuesday. The firm has a market cap of $7.67 billion, a PE ratio of 51.63 and a beta of 1.00. Noble has a 1 year low of $27.67 and a 1 year high of $54.98. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.42, a current ratio of 1.91 and a quick ratio of 1.91. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $44.41 and a 200-day moving average price of $43.96.

Noble (NYSE:NE - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Monday, October 26th. The company reported ($0.57) earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.23 by ($0.80). The company had revenue of $728.76 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $713.82 million. Noble had a return on equity of 1.93% and a net margin of 4.88%. Noble's quarterly revenue was down 8.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm posted ($0.13) earnings per share. Equities research analysts anticipate that Noble will post 0.47 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. VIRGINIA RETIREMENT SYSTEMS ET Al purchased a new stake in Noble during the second quarter valued at about $1,481,000. First Eagle Investment Management LLC boosted its position in Noble by 2.9% during the second quarter. First Eagle Investment Management LLC now owns 13,957,162 shares of the company's stock worth $520,602,000 after purchasing an additional 395,316 shares during the period. State of Alaska Department of Revenue bought a new position in Noble during the third quarter worth about $1,099,000. Merrion Investment Management Co LLC purchased a new position in shares of Noble in the third quarter worth about $1,252,000. Finally, State Street Corp increased its stake in shares of Noble by 4.1% in the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 5,428,507 shares of the company's stock worth $202,483,000 after purchasing an additional 215,799 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 68.14% of the company's stock.

About Noble

Noble Corporation plc NYSE: NE is an offshore drilling contractor that provides drilling services to the global oil and gas industry. The company operates a fleet of offshore drilling units, including drillships, semisubmersible rigs and jackup rigs, which are used to explore for and develop oil and natural gas reserves beneath the seabed.

Noble's services include contract drilling, well planning, project management and other related support services. Its drilling units are designed to operate in a range of offshore environments, including deepwater and harsh-environment locations.

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