SG Americas Securities LLC Has $12.44 Million Holdings in Noble Corporation PLC $NE

SG Americas Securities LLC increased its position in shares of Noble Corporation PLC (NYSE:NE) by 424.2% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 440,342 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 356,333 shares during the period. SG Americas Securities LLC owned 0.28% of Noble worth $12,435,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in NE. Hosking Partners LLP lifted its stake in Noble by 0.6% in the third quarter. Hosking Partners LLP now owns 1,036,851 shares of the company’s stock valued at $29,322,000 after acquiring an additional 5,685 shares during the last quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. increased its stake in shares of Noble by 1.1% during the 3rd quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 886,766 shares of the company’s stock worth $25,078,000 after purchasing an additional 9,442 shares during the last quarter. Systematic Financial Management LP raised its holdings in shares of 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. Hara Capital LLC raised its holdings in shares of Noble by 4.9% in the 2nd quarter. Hara Capital LLC now owns 194,482 shares of the company’s stock valued at $5,163,000 after purchasing an additional 9,116 shares during the period. Finally, Natixis Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Noble in the 3rd quarter valued at about $3,935,000. 68.14% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Noble

In related news, CEO Robert W. Eifler sold 100,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $46.62, for a total value of $4,662,000.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 1,243,828 shares in the company, valued at approximately $57,987,261.36. This represents a 7.44% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, SVP Mikkel Ipsen sold 3,453 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $43.56, for a total transaction of $150,412.68. Following the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 11,854 shares in the company, valued at approximately $516,360.24. This represents a 22.56% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 328,805 shares of company stock valued at $15,067,754. 1.50% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts recently commented on NE shares. SEB Equity Research set a $33.00 price target on Noble in a report on Tuesday, January 27th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on Noble from $33.00 to $41.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 17th. Barclays cut Noble from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and raised their price objective for the company from $36.00 to $41.00 in a research report on Wednesday, February 18th. BTIG Research boosted their target price on Noble from $35.00 to $42.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, February 2nd. Finally, Evercore set a $45.00 target price on Noble in a report on Friday, February 13th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, ten have issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $38.63.

Noble Stock Performance

Shares of NE stock opened at $49.83 on Friday. Noble Corporation PLC has a 52 week low of $17.40 and a 52 week high of $50.78. The company has a market capitalization of $7.95 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.91 and a beta of 1.07. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $42.72 and a 200 day simple moving average of $34.23. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43, a quick ratio of 1.67 and a current ratio of 1.67.

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

Noble Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 19th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, March 4th were given a dividend of $0.50 per share. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, March 4th. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.0%. Noble’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 148.15%.

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.