Noble (NYSE:NE) SVP Joey Kawaja Sells 19,725 Shares

Noble Corporation PLC (NYSE:NE) SVP Joey Kawaja sold 19,725 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $43.51, for a total value of $858,234.75. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 80,074 shares in the company, valued at $3,484,019.74. The trade was a 19.76% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link.

Noble Price Performance

Shares of Noble stock traded up $0.39 during trading on Thursday, hitting $44.65. 819,914 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,326,951. The company has a current ratio of 1.67, a quick ratio of 1.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43. The firm has a market capitalization of $7.11 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.08 and a beta of 1.12. Noble Corporation PLC has a 1-year low of $17.40 and a 1-year high of $46.31.

Noble (NYSE:NE) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 11th. The company reported $0.09 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.15 by ($0.06). The firm had revenue of $764.41 million during the quarter. Noble had a net margin of 6.60% and a return on equity of 2.34%. Noble’s revenue for the quarter was down 17.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.56 EPS. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Noble Corporation PLC will post 2.99 EPS for the current year.

Noble Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 19th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, March 4th will be issued a $0.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, March 4th. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.5%. Noble’s payout ratio is 148.15%.

Key Headlines Impacting Noble

Here are the key news stories impacting Noble this week:

• Neutral Sentiment: The company is mentioned in a MarketBeat roundup about dividend and defensive stocks, but Noble (NE) is not a featured pick in that piece — limited direct impact on NE’s near-term outlook.
• Negative Sentiment: Barclays cut Noble from Overweight to Equal Weight while raising its price target to $41 (from $36), signaling a more cautious view despite the higher PT; the $41 PT implies downside versus recent levels and likely weighs on sentiment. Barclays downgrades Noble (The Fly)
• Negative Sentiment: JPMorgan raised its price target on NE to $41 (from $33) but kept a Neutral rating — the higher PT is constructive on valuation but still implies roughly an 8% downside from recent levels, a mixed-to-negative signal for upside expectations. JPMorgan raises price target (Benzinga)
• Negative Sentiment: Several senior Noble executives disclosed material stock sales this week (Blake Denton sold 23,255 shares at ~$43.50; Joey M. Kawaja sold 19,725 shares at ~$43.51; Jennie Howard, Mikkel Ipsen, Caroline Alting also sold shares). These filings show notable reductions in insider ownership percentages and can be interpreted as a near-term negative signal for investor sentiment. Insider sale filing (SEC – Blake Denton)

Institutional Trading of Noble

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. State of Tennessee Department of Treasury bought a new stake in shares of Noble during the fourth quarter worth approximately $1,109,000. Sagefield Capital LP lifted its holdings in Noble by 40.0% during the 4th quarter. Sagefield Capital LP now owns 182,844 shares of the company’s stock worth $5,164,000 after purchasing an additional 52,261 shares during the last quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. boosted its stake 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. De Lisle Partners LLP bought a new stake in Noble in the 4th quarter valued at $824,000. Finally, Hosking Partners LLP grew its holdings in Noble by 10.0% in the 4th quarter. Hosking Partners LLP now owns 1,140,328 shares of the company’s stock valued at $32,203,000 after buying an additional 103,477 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 68.14% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have weighed in on the company. Susquehanna lifted their target price on Noble from $32.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, February 13th. Noble Financial downgraded Noble to a “market perform” rating in a report on Monday, December 1st. Fearnley Fonds lowered Noble from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 11th. Citigroup decreased their price objective on Noble from $34.00 to $32.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, December 11th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Noble in a research note on Monday, December 29th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, ten have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $38.63.

About Noble

Noble Corp. Plc engages in the provision offshore drilling services for oil and gas industry. It focuses on a balanced fleet of floating and jackup rigs and the deployment of drilling rigs in oil and gas basins around the world. The company was founded by Lloyd Noble and Art Olson in 1921 and is headquartered in London, the United Kingdom.