Robert Eifler Sells 100,000 Shares of Noble (NYSE:NE) Stock

Noble Corporation PLC (NYSE:NE) CEO Robert Eifler sold 100,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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. The trade was a 7.44% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website.

Noble Price Performance

NE stock opened at $46.69 on Friday. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $40.97 and a 200-day moving average of $33.49. The firm has a market capitalization of $7.44 billion, a P/E 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. The company has a current ratio of 1.67, a quick ratio of 1.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43.

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

Noble Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 19th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, March 4th were issued a $0.50 dividend. 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 dividend payout ratio is presently 148.15%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on the company. Zacks Research raised Noble from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, February 9th. Evercore set a $45.00 target price on Noble in a research note on Friday, February 13th. Noble Financial cut Noble to a “market perform” rating in a report on Monday, December 1st. Barclays downgraded Noble from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and lifted their price target for the company from $36.00 to $41.00 in a research report on Wednesday, February 18th. Finally, Citigroup cut their price objective on Noble from $34.00 to $32.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, December 11th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, ten have issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $38.63.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Westside Investment Management Inc. increased its stake in Noble by 156.4% in the third quarter. Westside Investment Management Inc. now owns 864 shares of the company’s stock valued at $25,000 after acquiring an additional 527 shares during the last quarter. Salomon & Ludwin LLC bought a new stake in Noble during the third quarter worth about $40,000. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its stake in Noble by 77.8% during the fourth 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 last quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its holdings 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, Strs Ohio purchased a new position in shares of Noble in the 1st quarter worth about $142,000. 68.14% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other 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.