Noble Corporation PLC (NYSE:NE) Receives Average Rating of "Hold" from Brokerages

Key Points

• Noble Corporation has an average analyst rating of “Hold” from 11 covering analysts, with nine holds and two buys. The average 1-year price target is about $43.13.
• Recent analyst moves were mixed: Citigroup cut its target to $45 and kept a neutral rating, while Barclays trimmed its target to $55 but maintained an overweight view. Other firms including Zacks Research and Wall Street Zen also shifted ratings toward hold.
• Insider activity has leaned toward selling, with CEO Robert W. Eifler and SVP Joey M. Kawaja both reducing holdings. Despite that, Noble beat quarterly earnings expectations, posted a 4.8% dividend yield, and the stock was up 2.7% in Friday trading.

Noble Corporation PLC (NYSE:NE - Get Free Report) has been assigned an average recommendation of "Hold" from the eleven analysts that are covering the company, Marketbeat reports. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company. The average 1-year price target among analysts that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $43.1250.

Several analysts have commented on NE shares. Citigroup lowered their price objective on shares of Noble from $52.00 to $45.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, June 30th. Weiss Ratings downgraded Noble from a "hold (c+)" rating to a "hold (c)" rating in a report on Wednesday, April 29th. Barclays decreased their target price on Noble from $56.00 to $55.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday. Zacks Research upgraded Noble from a "strong sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 19th. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded Noble from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Saturday, May 2nd.

Insider Buying and Selling at Noble

In other Noble news, SVP Joey M. Kawaja sold 40,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $49.85, for a total value of $1,994,000.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president owned 40,071 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,997,539.35. This represents a 49.96% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Robert W. Eifler sold 50,000 shares of Noble stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the chief executive officer owned 1,193,828 shares of the company's stock, valued at $54,331,112.28. The trade was a 4.02% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold a total of 143,550 shares of company stock valued at $6,985,436 over the last three months. 1.50% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its stake in shares of Noble by 77.8% in the fourth quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,440 shares of the company's stock worth $41,000 after acquiring an additional 630 shares during the last quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc raised its position in shares of Noble by 44.4% in the 2nd quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 1,243 shares of the company's stock worth $46,000 after purchasing an additional 382 shares during the last quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC raised 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 worth $69,000 after purchasing an additional 2,318 shares during the last quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Noble by 43.7% in the 1st quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 2,693 shares of the company's stock worth $132,000 after purchasing an additional 819 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Strs Ohio bought a new position in Noble in the 1st quarter worth about $142,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 68.14% of the company's stock.

Noble Stock Up 2.7%

Shares of NYSE NE opened at $41.51 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.99, a quick ratio of 1.99 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.42. Noble has a 12 month low of $25.24 and a 12 month high of $54.98. The firm has a market capitalization of $6.62 billion, a PE ratio of 29.03 and a beta of 0.92. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $44.77 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $43.38.

Noble (NYSE:NE - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Monday, April 27th. The company reported $0.26 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.21 by $0.05. The firm had revenue of $785.69 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $730.47 million. Noble had a net margin of 7.17% and a return on equity of 2.32%. The company's quarterly revenue was down 10.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.26 EPS. Equities analysts expect that Noble will post 0.94 earnings per share for the current year.

Noble Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 25th. Investors of record on Thursday, June 4th were given a dividend of $0.50 per share. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.8%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, June 4th. Noble's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 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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