Richard Barker Sells 150,000 Shares of Noble (NYSE:NE) Stock

Noble Corporation PLC (NYSE:NE) CFO Richard Barker sold 150,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $46.63, for a total value of $6,994,500.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 164,781 shares in the company, valued at $7,683,738.03. This represents a 47.65% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link.

Noble Stock Performance

NYSE:NE opened at $46.69 on Friday. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $40.97 and its 200-day simple moving average is $33.49. The company has a quick ratio of 1.67, a current ratio of 1.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43. The stock has a market cap of $7.44 billion, a PE ratio of 34.58 and a beta of 1.07. Noble Corporation PLC has a fifty-two week low of $17.40 and a fifty-two week high of $48.59.

Noble (NYSE:NE) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 11th. The company reported $0.09 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.15 by ($0.06). The company 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%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 17.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.56 EPS. Analysts expect that Noble Corporation PLC will post 2.99 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Noble Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced 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. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.3%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, March 4th. Noble’s payout ratio is presently 148.15%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

NE has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Barclays cut Noble from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and raised their price target for the company from $36.00 to $41.00 in a research report on Wednesday, February 18th. Zacks Research raised shares of Noble from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, February 9th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on shares of Noble from $33.00 to $41.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 17th. Citigroup cut their target price on shares of Noble from $34.00 to $32.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, December 11th. Finally, SEB Equity Research set a $33.00 price target on shares of Noble in a report on Tuesday, January 27th. One research 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’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $38.63.

Institutional Trading of Noble

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in NE. Strs Ohio acquired a new position in Noble in the 1st quarter valued at about $142,000. Systematic Financial Management LP grew its holdings in shares of Noble by 0.8% during the second quarter. Systematic Financial Management LP now owns 540,535 shares of the company’s stock worth $14,351,000 after buying an additional 4,435 shares in the last quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Noble by 819.1% during the second quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 2,601 shares of the company’s stock worth $69,000 after buying an additional 2,318 shares in the last quarter. Hara Capital LLC raised its position in shares of Noble by 4.9% in the second quarter. Hara Capital LLC now owns 194,482 shares of the company’s stock valued at $5,163,000 after buying an additional 9,116 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Captrust Financial Advisors acquired a new position in shares of Noble in the second quarter valued at approximately $359,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 68.14% of the company’s stock.

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.