Noble (NYSE:NE) CEO Sells $2,275,500.00 in Stock

Noble Corporation PLC (NYSE:NE) CEO Robert Eifler sold 50,000 shares of Noble stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $45.51, for a total value of $2,275,500.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 1,193,828 shares in the company, valued at approximately $54,331,112.28. The trade was a 4.02% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink.

Noble Stock Down 0.3%

Shares of NYSE:NE opened at $41.54 on Friday. Noble Corporation PLC has a 52-week low of $25.24 and a 52-week high of $54.98. The stock has a market cap of $6.63 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.05 and a beta of 0.89. The business has a fifty day moving average of $48.63 and a two-hundred day moving average of $42.07. The company has a quick ratio of 1.99, a current ratio of 1.99 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.42.

Noble (NYSE:NE) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Monday, April 27th. The company reported $0.26 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.21 by $0.05. The business had revenue of $785.69 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $730.47 million. Noble had a return on equity of 2.32% and a net margin of 7.17%.The company’s quarterly revenue was down 10.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.26 EPS. On average, research analysts expect that Noble Corporation PLC will post 0.94 earnings per share 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 paid a dividend of $0.50 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, June 4th. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.8%. Noble’s payout ratio is 139.86%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Noble

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in NE. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its position in shares of Noble by 77.8% during 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 during the period. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC raised its position in Noble by 819.1% in the second quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 2,601 shares of the company’s stock valued at $69,000 after purchasing an additional 2,318 shares during the period. Parallel Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Noble by 43.7% during the first 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. Strs Ohio acquired a new position in Noble during the first quarter worth $142,000. Finally, Janney Montgomery Scott LLC purchased a new position in shares of Noble during the first quarter worth $218,000. 68.14% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have recently weighed in on NE. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Noble from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, May 2nd. Zacks Research raised shares of Noble from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 19th. Weiss Ratings cut Noble from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 29th. Citigroup upped their price objective on Noble from $50.00 to $52.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, May 5th. Finally, Susquehanna increased their price objective on Noble from $45.00 to $50.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 7th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and nine have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Noble has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price 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.