Wall Street Zen Upgrades Noble (NYSE:NE) to Hold

Key Points

• Wall Street Zen upgraded Noble from a "sell" to a "hold."
• Despite that upgrade, the MarketBeat consensus remains "Reduce" with a $44.38 average price target and analyst breakdown of 1 Buy, 9 Hold and 2 Sell.
• Noble beat Q1 EPS estimates ($0.26 vs. $0.21) and revenue topped expectations but was down 10.1% year‑over‑year; the stock trades around $50.55 (above the consensus target) and insiders sold roughly $16M of shares in the past three months.

Noble (NYSE:NE - Get Free Report) was upgraded by equities research analysts at Wall Street Zen from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report issued on Saturday.

Several other equities research analysts have also commented on NE. Weiss Ratings lowered shares of Noble from a "hold (c+)" rating to a "hold (c)" rating in a report on Wednesday. Zacks Research lowered shares of Noble from a "hold" rating to a "strong sell" rating in a report on Monday, April 20th. SEB Equity Research set a $33.00 price target on shares of Noble in a report on Tuesday, January 27th. BTIG Research boosted their price target on shares of Noble from $35.00 to $42.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Monday, February 2nd. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on shares of Noble from $33.00 to $41.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Tuesday, February 17th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, nine have given a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of "Reduce" and a consensus target price of $44.38.

Noble Stock Performance

NE opened at $50.55 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.42, a current ratio of 1.99 and a quick ratio of 1.67. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $47.82 and a 200 day moving average price of $37.50. Noble has a 1 year low of $22.04 and a 1 year high of $54.57. The stock has a market cap of $8.07 billion, a P/E ratio of 35.35 and a beta of 0.94.

Noble (NYSE:NE - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Monday, April 27th. The company reported $0.26 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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 business's revenue was down 10.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.26 EPS. Equities research analysts anticipate that Noble will post 0.93 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Noble news, SVP Joey M. Kawaja sold 19,725 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $43.51, for a total value of $858,234.75. Following the transaction, the senior vice president owned 80,074 shares of the company's stock, valued at $3,484,019.74. This represents a 19.76% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, SVP Blake Denton sold 23,255 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $43.50, for a total transaction of $1,011,592.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 79,261 shares in the company, valued at $3,447,853.50. The trade was a 22.68% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders have sold a total of 346,631 shares of company stock valued at $16,003,924 over the last three months. Company insiders own 1.50% of the company's stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Westside Investment Management Inc. lifted its position in Noble by 156.4% in the third quarter. Westside Investment Management Inc. now owns 864 shares of the company's stock valued at $25,000 after buying an additional 527 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its position in Noble by 77.8% in the fourth quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,440 shares of the company's stock valued at $41,000 after buying an additional 630 shares during the last quarter. Salomon & Ludwin LLC acquired a new position in Noble in the third quarter valued at about $40,000. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its position in Noble by 819.1% in the second quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 2,601 shares of the company's stock valued at $69,000 after buying an additional 2,318 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Janney Montgomery Scott LLC acquired a new position in Noble in the first quarter valued at about $218,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 68.14% of the company's stock.

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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