Noble (NYSE:NE) SVP Joey Kawaja Sells 40,000 Shares

Key Points

• SVP Joey Kawaja sold 40,000 shares on May 5 at an average price of $49.85 for about $1.994 million, leaving him with 40,071 shares and a reported 49.96% reduction in his position.
• Noble announced a quarterly dividend of $0.50, payable June 25 to shareholders of record June 4 (ex-dividend June 4), equal to $2.00 annualized with a yield of 4.1% and a payout ratio of 139.86%.
• Noble beat Q1 EPS estimates with $0.26 versus $0.21 and reported revenue of $785.69 million (ahead of the $730.47 million estimate), although revenue was down 10.1% year-over-year.

Noble Corporation PLC (NYSE:NE - Get Free Report) SVP Joey Kawaja sold 40,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $49.85, for a total transaction of $1,994,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, 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 position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink.

Noble Stock Down 1.2%

Shares of NE traded down $0.59 on Thursday, hitting $48.49. 1,261,189 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,673,143. Noble Corporation PLC has a one year low of $22.37 and a one year high of $54.57. The company has a market capitalization of $7.74 billion, a PE ratio of 33.91 and a beta of 0.94. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $48.04 and a 200 day simple moving average of $38.09. 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 (NYSE:NE - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Monday, April 27th. The company reported $0.26 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.21 by $0.05. Noble had a return on equity of 2.32% and a net margin of 7.17%.The business had revenue of $785.69 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $730.47 million. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.26 EPS. The company's revenue was down 10.1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Noble Corporation PLC will post 0.93 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Noble Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 25th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, June 4th will be given a $0.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, June 4th. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.1%. Noble's payout ratio is 139.86%.

Institutional Trading of Noble

Large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. SG Americas Securities LLC increased its holdings in Noble by 424.2% during 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 position in shares of Noble during the 4th quarter worth $4,902,000. State of Tennessee Department of Treasury bought a new stake in shares of Noble during the 4th quarter valued at $1,109,000. Natixis Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Noble in the 3rd quarter worth $3,935,000. Finally, Russell Investments Group Ltd. increased its stake in shares of Noble by 2.8% in the 4th quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 911,491 shares of the company's stock worth $25,740,000 after purchasing an additional 24,725 shares in the last quarter. 68.14% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have recently commented on NE. Zacks Research lowered shares of Noble from a "hold" rating to a "strong sell" rating in a research note on Monday, April 20th. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Noble from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Saturday, May 2nd. Barclays upgraded shares of Noble from an "equal weight" rating to an "overweight" rating and boosted their target price for the company from $50.00 to $56.00 in a research note on Thursday. Susquehanna increased their price target on Noble from $45.00 to $50.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Tuesday, April 7th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on Noble from $33.00 to $41.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Tuesday, February 17th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eight have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Noble currently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $45.38.

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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