Noble (NYSE:NE) SVP Caroline Alting Sells 4,195 Shares of Stock

Noble Corporation PLC (NYSE:NE) SVP Caroline Alting sold 4,195 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $43.60, for a total transaction of $182,902.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 23,510 shares in the company, valued at $1,025,036. The trade was a 15.14% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink.

Noble Stock Performance

NYSE NE traded up $0.42 during trading hours on Thursday, reaching $44.68. 639,609 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,321,360. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43, a quick ratio of 1.67 and a current ratio of 1.67. Noble Corporation PLC has a 1 year low of $17.40 and a 1 year high of $46.31. The company has a market capitalization of $7.11 billion, a PE ratio of 33.12 and a beta of 1.12.

Noble (NYSE:NE) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, February 11th. The company reported $0.09 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.15 by ($0.06). The firm had revenue of $764.41 million for the quarter. Noble had a return on equity of 2.34% and a net margin of 6.60%.The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 17.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.56 earnings per share. On average, research analysts predict that Noble Corporation PLC will post 2.99 EPS for the current year.

Noble Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 19th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, March 4th will be issued a dividend of $0.50 per share. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.5%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, March 4th. Noble’s payout ratio is currently 148.15%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of NE. State of Tennessee Department of Treasury purchased a new position in shares of Noble during the fourth quarter worth approximately $1,109,000. Sagefield Capital LP grew its position in 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 purchasing an additional 52,261 shares during the last quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. increased its stake in Noble by 2.8% during the 4th quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 911,491 shares of the company’s stock valued at $25,740,000 after purchasing an additional 24,725 shares in the last quarter. De Lisle Partners LLP purchased a new position in shares of Noble in the fourth quarter worth $824,000. Finally, Hosking Partners LLP grew its holdings in shares of Noble by 10.0% during the fourth quarter. Hosking Partners LLP now owns 1,140,328 shares of the company’s stock valued at $32,203,000 after buying an additional 103,477 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 68.14% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

NE has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on Noble from $33.00 to $41.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Zacks Research raised Noble from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, February 9th. Noble Financial downgraded shares of Noble to a “market perform” rating in a report on Monday, December 1st. Susquehanna lifted their target price on shares of Noble from $32.00 to $45.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, February 13th. Finally, SEB Equity Research set a $33.00 price objective on Noble in a research note on Tuesday, January 27th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, ten have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $38.63.

About Noble

Noble Corp. Plc engages in the provision offshore drilling services for oil and gas industry. It focuses on a balanced fleet of floating and jackup rigs and the deployment of drilling rigs in oil and gas basins around the world. The company was founded by Lloyd Noble and Art Olson in 1921 and is headquartered in London, the United Kingdom.