Noble Corporation PLC (NYSE:NE) Receives $43.12 Average Price Target from Analysts

Noble Corporation PLC (NYSE:NE) has earned a consensus rating of “Hold” from the eleven ratings firms that are presently covering the stock, Marketbeat reports. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and two have issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average 12-month price target among brokerages that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $43.1250.

NE has been the subject of several research reports. Evercore set a $59.00 price target on Noble in a report on Monday, April 27th. Zacks Research raised Noble from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, May 19th. Susquehanna cut their price target on Noble from $55.00 to $40.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, July 8th. Citigroup lowered their price objective on shares of Noble from $52.00 to $45.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, June 30th. Finally, Wall Street Zen raised shares of Noble from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, May 2nd.

Insider Activity

In other Noble news, SVP Caroline Alting sold 15,340 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $52.75, for a total value of $809,185.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president directly owned 8,170 shares in the company, valued at $430,967.50. This represents a 65.25% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Al J. Hirshberg sold 5,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, May 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $52.62, for a total value of $263,100.00. Following the transaction, the director owned 27,803 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,462,993.86. This represents a 15.24% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 143,550 shares of company stock valued at $6,985,436. 1.50% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Noble

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Noble by 77.8% in the 4th quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,440 shares of the company’s stock worth $41,000 after acquiring an additional 630 shares in the last quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc boosted its stake in Noble by 44.4% in the second quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 1,243 shares of the company’s stock worth $46,000 after purchasing an additional 382 shares in the last quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Noble by 819.1% during the second quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 2,601 shares of the company’s stock worth $69,000 after purchasing an additional 2,318 shares during the last quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Noble by 43.7% in the first quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 2,693 shares of the company’s stock valued at $132,000 after buying an additional 819 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Strs Ohio acquired a new stake in shares of Noble in the first quarter valued at $142,000. 68.14% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Noble Stock Performance

Noble stock opened at $43.21 on Friday. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $44.04 and its 200-day simple moving average is $43.89. The company has a market cap of $6.89 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.22 and a beta of 0.92. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.42, a current ratio of 1.99 and a quick ratio of 1.99. Noble has a fifty-two week low of $25.24 and a fifty-two week high of $54.98.

Noble (NYSE:NE) last issued its quarterly 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. 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 firm’s quarterly revenue was down 10.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.26 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Noble will post 0.81 EPS for the current year.

Noble Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 25th. Investors of record on Thursday, June 4th were given a $0.50 dividend. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.6%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, June 4th. Noble’s dividend payout ratio is 139.86%.

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.