Noble Corporation PLC (NYSE:NE) Receives $44.38 Consensus Price Target from Brokerages

Shares of Noble Corporation PLC (NYSE:NEGet Free Report) have received an average recommendation of “Hold” from the eleven ratings firms that are currently covering the stock, MarketBeat.com reports. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company. The average 1-year price target among brokers that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $45.3750.

NE has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Evercore set a $59.00 price target on Noble in a report on Monday, April 27th. Barclays upgraded Noble from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their price target for the company from $50.00 to $56.00 in a report on Thursday, May 7th. Citigroup lifted their price objective on Noble from $50.00 to $52.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 5th. Susquehanna upped their target price on Noble from $45.00 to $50.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 7th. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded Noble from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, May 2nd.

Get Our Latest Research Report on NE

Insider Activity

In other Noble news, CFO Richard B. Barker sold 150,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $46.63, for a total transaction of $6,994,500.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 164,781 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,683,738.03. This represents a 47.65% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, SVP Joey M. Kawaja sold 40,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $49.85, for a total value of $1,994,000.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president owned 40,071 shares in the company, valued at $1,997,539.35. This trade represents a 49.96% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last three months, insiders have sold 416,631 shares of company stock worth $19,477,224. Company insiders own 1.50% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Westside Investment Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of Noble by 156.4% in the 3rd quarter. Westside Investment Management Inc. now owns 864 shares of the company’s stock worth $25,000 after purchasing an additional 527 shares in the last quarter. Salomon & Ludwin LLC bought a new stake in shares of Noble in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $40,000. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its position 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 purchasing an additional 630 shares in the last quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Noble by 819.1% in the 2nd 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 in the last quarter. Finally, Parallel Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Noble by 43.7% in the 1st quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 2,693 shares of the company’s stock worth $132,000 after purchasing an additional 819 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 68.14% of the company’s stock.

Noble Stock Up 1.8%

Shares of NYSE:NE opened at $51.07 on Tuesday. Noble has a 1 year low of $22.37 and a 1 year high of $54.57. The company has a market cap of $8.15 billion, a PE ratio of 35.71 and a beta of 0.94. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.42, a current ratio of 1.99 and a quick ratio of 1.99. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $48.25 and its 200 day moving average is $38.41.

Noble (NYSE:NEGet Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Monday, April 27th. The company reported $0.26 earnings per share (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 company had revenue of $785.69 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $730.47 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.26 EPS. Noble’s revenue was down 10.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Noble will post 0.93 EPS for the current year.

Noble Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 25th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, June 4th will be issued a dividend of $0.50 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, June 4th. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.9%. Noble’s dividend payout ratio is 139.86%.

Noble Company Profile

(Get Free Report)

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.

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Analyst Recommendations for Noble (NYSE:NE)

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