Noble (NYSE:NE) Stock Price Expected to Rise, Citigroup Analyst Says

Key Points

• Citigroup raised its price target on Noble to $52 (from $50) and kept a "neutral" rating, implying roughly a 4% upside from the current share price.
• Noble beat the quarter's estimates with $0.26 EPS (vs. $0.21 expected) and $785.7M in revenue (vs. $730.5M expected), although revenue was down about 10.1% year-over-year.
• Insiders sold 346,631 shares (~$16.0M) over the last quarter and now own 1.50% of the stock, while institutional investors hold roughly 68.14% of shares outstanding.

Noble (NYSE:NE - Get Free Report) had its price target raised by equities researchers at Citigroup from $50.00 to $52.00 in a report issued on Tuesday,Benzinga reports. The firm presently has a "neutral" rating on the stock. Citigroup's price objective indicates a potential upside of 4.05% from the company's current price.

A number of other equities analysts also recently commented on NE. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Noble from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Saturday. Zacks Research downgraded shares of Noble from a "hold" rating to a "strong sell" rating in a research note on Monday, April 20th. Fearnley Fonds downgraded shares of Noble from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 11th. Susquehanna boosted their target price on shares of Noble from $45.00 to $50.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 7th. Finally, SEB Equity Research set a $33.00 target price on shares of Noble in a research note on Tuesday, January 27th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, nine have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Noble presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $44.63.

Noble Stock Down 1.9%

Shares of NYSE:NE traded down $0.95 during trading on Tuesday, hitting $49.98. The company's stock had a trading volume of 295,422 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,990,050. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $47.82 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $37.64. The company has a market capitalization of $7.97 billion, a PE ratio of 34.92 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. Noble has a fifty-two week low of $22.37 and a fifty-two week high of $54.57.

Noble (NYSE:NE - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly 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 business had revenue of $785.69 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate 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 quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.26 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts expect that Noble will post 0.93 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at Noble

In other news, Director Charles M. Sledge sold 2,083 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $44.63, for a total value of $92,964.29. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 2,084 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $93,008.92. This represents a 49.99% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Jennie Howard sold 2,486 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, April 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $51.08, for a total transaction of $126,984.88. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president directly owned 15,676 shares of the company's stock, valued at $800,730.08. The trade was a 13.69% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold 346,631 shares of company stock valued at $16,003,924 over the last quarter. 1.50% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Noble

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. SG Americas Securities LLC raised its holdings in shares of Noble by 424.2% in the fourth quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 440,342 shares of the company's stock valued at $12,435,000 after buying an additional 356,333 shares during the last quarter. Hara Capital LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Noble in the fourth quarter valued at about $4,902,000. Russell Investments Group Ltd. raised its holdings in shares of Noble by 1.1% in the third quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 886,766 shares of the company's stock valued at $25,078,000 after buying an additional 9,442 shares during the last quarter. Amalgamated Bank raised its holdings in shares of Noble by 663.5% in the third quarter. Amalgamated Bank now owns 36,150 shares of the company's stock valued at $1,022,000 after buying an additional 31,415 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Hosking Partners LLP raised its holdings in shares of Noble by 0.6% in the third quarter. Hosking Partners LLP now owns 1,036,851 shares of the company's stock valued at $29,322,000 after buying an additional 5,685 shares during the last quarter. 68.14% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Noble Company Profile

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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