ProShare Advisors LLC Buys 17,636 Shares of Noble Corporation PLC $NE

ProShare Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Noble Corporation PLC (NYSE:NE) during the third quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor purchased 17,636 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $736,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in NE. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB purchased a new position in shares of Noble during the third quarter valued at $40,000. Versant Capital Management Inc lifted 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 acquiring an additional 382 shares during the period. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC purchased a new stake in Noble in the second quarter worth about $118,000. Parallel Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Noble by 43.7% during the 1st quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 2,693 shares of the company’s stock worth $132,000 after acquiring an additional 819 shares in the last quarter. Finally, EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Noble by 20.4% during the 1st quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 3,080 shares of the company’s stock worth $151,000 after acquiring an additional 521 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 68.14% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have commented on NE shares. Noble Financial began coverage on shares of Noble in a research report on Thursday, October 29th. They set an “outperform” rating on the stock. Zacks Research raised shares of Noble from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, October 9th. Weiss Ratings cut shares of Noble from a “hold (c)” rating to a “sell (d+)” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Susquehanna increased their price objective on shares of Noble from $44.00 to $46.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 28th. Finally, Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Noble from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Saturday, August 1st. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, three have issued a Buy rating, four have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $46.57.

Noble Trading Up 2.7%

NE opened at $40.98 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $6.54 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 124.17 and a beta of 1.05. The company has a current ratio of 1.76, a quick ratio of 1.76 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.44. Noble Corporation PLC has a 12 month low of $27.67 and a 12 month high of $54.98. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $44.20 and a 200-day moving average price of $44.64.

Noble (NYSE:NE) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Monday, October 26th. The company reported ($0.57) earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.23 by ($0.80). Noble had a negative return on equity of 0.76% and a net margin of 1.79%. The company had revenue of $728.76 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $713.82 million. During the same quarter last year, the company earned ($0.13) earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 8.6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Noble Corporation PLC will post 0.11 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Noble Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 17th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, November 25th will be given a dividend of $0.50 per share. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.9%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, November 25th. Noble’s dividend payout ratio is presently 606.06%.

Noble Profile

Noble Corporation plc (NYSE: NE) is an offshore drilling contractor that provides drilling services to the global oil and gas industry. The company operates a fleet of offshore drilling units, including drillships, semisubmersible rigs and jackup rigs, which are used to explore for and develop oil and natural gas reserves beneath the seabed.

Noble’s services include contract drilling, well planning, project management and other related support services. Its drilling units are designed to operate in a range of offshore environments, including deepwater and harsh-environment locations.