Noble (NYSE:NE) CEO Sells $4,662,000.00 in Stock

Noble Corporation PLC (NYSE:NE) CEO Robert Eifler sold 100,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $46.62, for a total transaction of $4,662,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 1,243,828 shares in the company, valued at approximately $57,987,261.36. This trade represents a 7.44% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink.

Noble Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:NE opened at $46.69 on Friday. 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 company has a 50-day moving average price of $40.97 and a 200-day moving average price of $33.52. The company has a market cap of $7.44 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.58 and a beta of 1.07. Noble Corporation PLC has a 12 month low of $17.40 and a 12 month high of $48.59.

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

Noble Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 19th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, March 4th were paid a dividend of $0.50 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, March 4th. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.3%. Noble’s payout ratio is 148.15%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts recently commented on the company. Noble Financial lowered Noble to a “market perform” rating in a research note on Monday, December 1st. Evercore set a $45.00 target price on shares of Noble in a research report on Friday, February 13th. BTIG Research lifted their target price on shares of Noble from $35.00 to $42.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, February 2nd. SEB Equity Research set a $33.00 price target on shares of Noble in a research report on Tuesday, January 27th. Finally, Susquehanna increased their price target on shares of Noble from $32.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, February 13th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, ten have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $38.63.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Noble

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. SG Americas Securities LLC raised its holdings in Noble by 424.2% in the fourth 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. Hara Capital LLC purchased a new position in Noble during the fourth quarter valued at $4,902,000. Natixis Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Noble during the 3rd quarter valued at $3,935,000. Hosking Partners LLP boosted its holdings in shares of Noble by 10.0% during 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. Finally, Sagefield Capital LP grew its position in shares of Noble by 40.0% in the 4th quarter. Sagefield Capital LP now owns 182,844 shares of the company’s stock worth $5,164,000 after buying an additional 52,261 shares during the period. 68.14% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.