Noble (NYSE:NE) CFO Richard Barker Sells 150,000 Shares of Stock

Noble Corporation PLC (NYSE:NE) CFO Richard Barker sold 150,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $46.63, for a total value of $6,994,500.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 164,781 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,683,738.03. The trade was a 47.65% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website.

Noble Stock Up 2.5%

Shares of NYSE:NE traded up $1.15 during midday trading on Thursday, reaching $47.80. The company had a trading volume of 1,354,273 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,207,713. Noble Corporation PLC has a 1-year low of $17.40 and a 1-year high of $48.59. The stock has a market cap of $7.62 billion, a PE ratio of 35.41 and a beta of 1.07. The company has a quick ratio of 1.67, a current ratio of 1.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $40.30 and its 200 day moving average price is $33.27.

Noble (NYSE:NE) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 11th. The company reported $0.09 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.15 by ($0.06). The company had revenue of $764.41 million for the quarter. Noble had a net margin of 6.60% and a return on equity of 2.34%. The business’s revenue was down 17.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.56 earnings per share. Research analysts forecast that Noble Corporation PLC will post 2.99 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Noble Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 19th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, March 4th will be paid a $0.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, March 4th. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.2%. Noble’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 148.15%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Noble

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Hosking Partners LLP increased its position in Noble by 10.0% during the fourth quarter. Hosking Partners LLP now owns 1,140,328 shares of the company’s stock worth $32,203,000 after acquiring an additional 103,477 shares during the period. Russell Investments Group Ltd. boosted its holdings in Noble by 2.8% in 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 during the period. Systematic Financial Management LP boosted its holdings in Noble by 0.8% in the 2nd quarter. Systematic Financial Management LP now owns 540,535 shares of the company’s stock valued at $14,351,000 after purchasing an additional 4,435 shares during the period. SG Americas Securities LLC grew its position in shares of Noble by 424.2% during the 4th quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 440,342 shares of the company’s stock worth $12,435,000 after purchasing an additional 356,333 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Hara Capital LLC grew its position in shares of Noble by 4.9% during the 2nd quarter. Hara Capital LLC now owns 194,482 shares of the company’s stock worth $5,163,000 after purchasing an additional 9,116 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 68.14% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have recently weighed in on NE. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on shares of Noble from $33.00 to $41.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 17th. Zacks Research upgraded Noble from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, February 9th. Fearnley Fonds downgraded Noble from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 11th. SEB Equity Research set a $33.00 price objective on Noble in a research note on Tuesday, January 27th. Finally, Barclays downgraded Noble from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $36.00 to $41.00 in a research note on Wednesday, February 18th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, ten have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $38.63.

Noble Company Profile

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.