Noble Corporation PLC (NYSE:NE) Given Average Rating of "Hold" by Analysts

Key Points

• Analysts give Noble a consensus “Hold” rating: Six analysts rate the stock a hold, while two recommend buying, one strongly recommends buying and one recommends selling. The average 12-month price target is $44.71.
• Noble reported quarterly earnings of $0.01 per share, missing the $0.15 consensus estimate, although revenue of $719.69 million exceeded expectations. Revenue fell 15.2% year over year.
• The company declared a quarterly dividend of $0.50 per share, equivalent to a 4.5% annualized yield, despite a payout ratio above 200%. Insiders recently sold shares, while institutional investors own 68.14% of the stock.

Shares of Noble Corporation PLC (NYSE:NE - Get Free Report) have been given a consensus rating of "Hold" by the ten research firms that are presently covering the firm, Marketbeat reports. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, six have assigned a hold recommendation, two have given a buy recommendation and one has assigned a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 12-month price target among analysts that have covered the stock in the last year is $44.7143.

Several research analysts recently weighed in on NE shares. Evercore set a $59.00 target price on shares of Noble in a report on Monday, April 27th. Susquehanna decreased their price target on Noble from $55.00 to $40.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, July 8th. Fearnley Fonds upgraded Noble from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 29th. Barclays cut their target price on Noble from $55.00 to $53.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, July 30th. Finally, Citigroup decreased their target price on Noble from $52.00 to $45.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, June 30th.

Insider Buying and Selling at Noble

In related news, Director Al J. Hirshberg sold 5,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction 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 directly 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 transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO Robert W. Eifler sold 50,000 shares of Noble stock in a transaction on Monday, June 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $45.51, for a total transaction of $2,275,500.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 1,193,828 shares in the company, valued at approximately $54,331,112.28. This represents a 4.02% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. 1.50% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in NE. Natixis Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Noble during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $3,935,000. Hosking Partners LLP increased its stake in Noble by 10.0% in the 4th quarter. Hosking Partners LLP now owns 1,140,328 shares of the company's stock worth $32,203,000 after acquiring an additional 103,477 shares during the last quarter. Sagefield Capital LP raised its holdings in shares of Noble by 40.0% during the 4th quarter. Sagefield Capital LP now owns 182,844 shares of the company's stock worth $5,164,000 after acquiring an additional 52,261 shares in the last quarter. State of Tennessee Department of Treasury purchased a new stake in shares of Noble during the 4th quarter worth approximately $1,109,000. Finally, De Lisle Partners LLP bought a new position in shares of Noble during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $824,000. Institutional investors own 68.14% of the company's stock.

Noble Price Performance

NYSE NE opened at $44.26 on Thursday. The company has a current ratio of 1.91, a quick ratio of 1.91 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.42. Noble has a 12 month low of $26.20 and a 12 month high of $54.98. The stock has a market cap of $7.07 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 47.59 and a beta of 0.93. The company's 50 day moving average is $41.67 and its two-hundred day moving average is $44.90.

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

Noble Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 24th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, September 3rd will be given a dividend of $0.50 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, September 3rd. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.5%. Noble's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 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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