Noble (NYSE:NE) Announces Earnings Results, Misses Estimates By $0.14 EPS

Noble (NYSE:NE) announced its quarterly earnings data on Monday. The company reported $0.01 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.15 by ($0.14), Zacks reports. The company had revenue of $719.69 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $697.98 million. Noble had a net margin of 7.17% and a return on equity of 2.32%. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 15.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.27 EPS.

Noble Stock Performance

NE opened at $43.09 on Tuesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $6.87 billion, a PE ratio of 30.13 and a beta of 0.92. Noble has a twelve month low of $25.24 and a twelve month high of $54.98. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $43.62 and its 200 day moving average price is $44.08. 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 Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 24th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, September 3rd will be paid a $0.50 dividend. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.6%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, September 3rd. Noble’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 139.86%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on NE shares. Barclays dropped their price objective on Noble from $56.00 to $55.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, July 16th. Susquehanna lowered their price target on shares of Noble from $55.00 to $40.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, July 8th. Evercore set a $59.00 price objective on shares of Noble in a research report on Monday, April 27th. Weiss Ratings lowered shares of Noble from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 29th. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Noble from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, May 2nd. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eight have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $43.12.

Insider Activity at Noble

In other news, CEO Robert W. Eifler sold 50,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $45.51, for a total value of $2,275,500.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 1,193,828 shares in the company, valued at $54,331,112.28. This represents a 4.02% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, SVP Joey M. Kawaja sold 40,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 completion of the sale, the senior vice president directly owned 40,071 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,997,539.35. This represents a 49.96% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders have sold 128,210 shares of company stock worth $6,176,251 in the last 90 days. 1.50% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Noble

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Strs Ohio acquired a new position in shares of Noble during the 1st quarter valued at about $142,000. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC grew its stake 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 valued at $69,000 after buying an additional 2,318 shares during the period. Captrust Financial Advisors acquired a new stake in shares of Noble during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $359,000. Natixis Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Noble during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $3,935,000. Finally, Russell Investments Group Ltd. raised its position in shares of 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 buying an additional 24,725 shares during the period. 68.14% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.