Noble (NYSE:NE) SVP Sells $1,479,300.00 in Stock

Noble Corporation PLC (NYSE:NE) SVP Blake Denton sold 30,000 shares of Noble stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $49.31, for a total transaction of $1,479,300.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president owned 29,927 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,475,700.37. This represents a 50.06% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink.

Blake Denton also recently made the following trade(s):

• On Tuesday, February 17th, Blake Denton sold 23,255 shares of Noble stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $43.50, for a total transaction of $1,011,592.50.

Noble Trading Down 1.2%

Shares of NYSE:NE traded down $0.59 during midday trading on Thursday, hitting $48.49. The company had a trading volume of 1,261,189 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,673,143. 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 Corporation PLC has a 12 month low of $22.37 and a 12 month high of $54.57. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $48.04 and a 200 day simple moving average of $38.09. The stock has a market cap of $7.74 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.91 and a beta of 0.94.

Noble (NYSE:NE) last released its quarterly earnings data on Monday, April 27th. The company reported $0.26 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.21 by $0.05. Noble had a return on equity of 2.32% and a net margin of 7.17%.The business had revenue of $785.69 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $730.47 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.26 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was down 10.1% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts predict that Noble Corporation PLC will post 0.93 EPS for the current year.

Noble Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 25th. Investors of record on Thursday, June 4th will be given a $0.50 dividend. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.1%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, June 4th. Noble’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 139.86%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Noble

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in NE. Hosking Partners LLP boosted its position 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 worth $32,203,000 after buying an additional 103,477 shares during the period. Russell Investments Group Ltd. boosted its position in Noble by 2.8% during the fourth quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 911,491 shares of the company’s stock worth $25,740,000 after purchasing an additional 24,725 shares during the period. SG Americas Securities LLC boosted its holdings 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 buying an additional 356,333 shares during the period. Sagefield Capital LP grew its position in shares of Noble by 40.0% in the fourth quarter. Sagefield Capital LP now owns 182,844 shares of the company’s stock valued at $5,164,000 after purchasing an additional 52,261 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Hara Capital LLC acquired a new position in Noble in the 4th quarter valued at $4,902,000. 68.14% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

NE has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Weiss Ratings downgraded shares of Noble from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 29th. Fearnley Fonds lowered shares of Noble from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 11th. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Noble from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, May 2nd. Susquehanna raised their price objective on Noble from $45.00 to $50.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 7th. Finally, SEB Equity Research set a $33.00 target price on Noble in a report on Tuesday, January 27th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eight have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $45.38.

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.