Hosking Partners LLP Acquires 103,477 Shares of Noble Corporation PLC $NE

Key Points

• Hosking Partners LLP increased its stake in Noble Corporation by 10% in the fourth quarter, buying 103,477 shares and bringing its total holding to 1,140,328 shares worth about $32.2 million.
• Insiders have been selling shares: CFO Richard B. Barker sold 150,000 shares and CEO Robert W. Eifler sold 100,000 shares on March 18, contributing to 416,631 insider shares sold over the last 90 days.
• Noble beat quarterly estimates, reporting EPS of $0.26 versus the $0.21 consensus and revenue of $785.69 million, while also announcing a $0.50 quarterly dividend that implies a 4.0% annual yield.

Hosking Partners LLP raised its holdings in Noble Corporation PLC (NYSE:NE - Free Report) by 10.0% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,140,328 shares of the company's stock after buying an additional 103,477 shares during the period. Hosking Partners LLP owned about 0.72% of Noble worth $32,203,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Westside Investment Management Inc. grew its position in Noble by 156.4% during the third quarter. Westside Investment Management Inc. now owns 864 shares of the company's stock worth $25,000 after buying an additional 527 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its position in Noble by 77.8% during the fourth quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,440 shares of the company's stock worth $41,000 after buying an additional 630 shares in the last quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC grew its position in Noble by 819.1% during the second quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 2,601 shares of the company's stock worth $69,000 after buying an additional 2,318 shares in the last quarter. Strs Ohio acquired a new stake in Noble during the first quarter worth approximately $142,000. Finally, Russell Investments Group Ltd. grew its position in Noble by 1.1% during the third quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 886,766 shares of the company's stock worth $25,078,000 after buying an additional 9,442 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 68.14% of the company's stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Noble

In related news, CFO Richard B. Barker sold 150,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $46.63, for a total transaction of $6,994,500.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 164,781 shares of the company's stock, valued at $7,683,738.03. This trade represents a 47.65% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Robert W. Eifler sold 100,000 shares of Noble stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $46.62, for a total value of $4,662,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 1,243,828 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $57,987,261.36. This trade represents a 7.44% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold 416,631 shares of company stock worth $19,477,224 over the last 90 days. Company insiders own 1.50% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on NE shares. SEB Equity Research set a $33.00 price target on Noble in a research report on Tuesday, January 27th. Evercore set a $59.00 target price on Noble in a report on Monday, April 27th. Weiss Ratings downgraded Noble from a "hold (c+)" rating to a "hold (c)" rating in a report on Wednesday, April 29th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on Noble from $33.00 to $41.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Tuesday, February 17th. Finally, Fearnley Fonds downgraded Noble from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Wednesday, February 11th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eight have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Noble has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $45.38.

More Noble News

Here are the key news stories impacting Noble this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Barclays upgraded Noble Corporation PLC (NE) from “equal weight” to “overweight” and lifted its price target to $56 from $50, signaling increased confidence in the company’s upside potential. Barclays upgrades Noble (NE)
• Positive Sentiment: Shareholders backed Noble’s board and governance framework, which may reduce uncertainty around corporate oversight and support management stability. Noble Corporation Shareholders Back Board, Governance Framework
• Neutral Sentiment: The company also reported that a special shareholder meeting approved an arrangement and reduction of stated capital, alongside agreements with marketing consultants; this is more of a corporate action update than a direct operating driver. Noble Announces Results of the Special Meeting of Shareholders and Agreements with Marketing Consultants
• Neutral Sentiment: Two senior vice presidents sold shares this week, which may weigh on sentiment slightly, but insider sales do not necessarily indicate a change in business fundamentals. Noble NYSE: NE SVP Sells $1,479,300.00 in Stock
• Negative Sentiment: SVP Blake Denton sold 30,000 shares, and SVP Joey M. Kawaja sold 40,000 shares, adding a modest headwind to investor sentiment as the stock trades near its recent highs. Noble NYSE: NE SVP Sells $1,479,300.00 in Stock

Noble Stock Up 0.4%

Shares of NE opened at $50.35 on Monday. Noble Corporation PLC has a 52 week low of $22.37 and a 52 week high of $54.57. The stock has a market capitalization of $8.03 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.21 and a beta of 0.94. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.42, a quick ratio of 1.99 and a current ratio of 1.99. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $48.04 and a 200-day moving average of $38.09.

Noble (NYSE:NE - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Monday, April 27th. The company reported $0.26 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.21 by $0.05. Noble had a return on equity of 2.32% and a net margin of 7.17%.The company had revenue of $785.69 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $730.47 million. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.26 EPS. Noble's revenue was down 10.1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Noble Corporation PLC will post 0.93 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Noble Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 25th. Investors of record on Thursday, June 4th will be given a dividend of $0.50 per share. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.0%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, June 4th. Noble's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 139.86%.

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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