Noble (NYSE:NE) Given New $50.00 Price Target at Susquehanna

Noble (NYSE:NE) had its price target lifted by Susquehanna from $45.00 to $50.00 in a report issued on Tuesday,Benzinga reports. They currently have a neutral rating on the stock.

NE has been the topic of several other research reports. SEB Equity Research set a $33.00 price objective on shares of Noble in a research note on Tuesday, January 27th. BTIG Research boosted their price objective on shares of Noble from $35.00 to $42.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, February 2nd. Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Noble in a research note on Monday, December 29th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on shares of Noble from $33.00 to $41.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 17th. Finally, Citigroup dropped their price objective on shares of Noble from $34.00 to $32.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, December 11th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, ten have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Noble presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $39.25.

Noble Price Performance

Shares of NYSE NE opened at $50.76 on Tuesday. Noble has a 1 year low of $17.51 and a 1 year high of $51.61. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43, a current ratio of 1.67 and a quick ratio of 1.67. The company’s 50-day moving average is $44.90 and its 200 day moving average is $35.20. The stock has a market capitalization of $8.09 billion, a P/E ratio of 37.60 and a beta of 1.00.

Noble (NYSE:NE) last posted 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). Noble had a return on equity of 2.34% and a net margin of 6.60%.The business had revenue of $764.41 million for the quarter. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.56 earnings per share. Noble’s quarterly revenue was down 17.6% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Noble will post 2.99 earnings per share for the current year.

Noble Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 19th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, March 4th were paid a $0.50 dividend. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.9%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, March 4th. Noble’s dividend payout ratio is currently 148.15%.

Insider Transactions at Noble

In other news, CFO Richard B. Barker sold 150,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $46.63, for a total value of $6,994,500.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 164,781 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,683,738.03. This represents a 47.65% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, SVP Blake Denton sold 23,255 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $43.50, for a total transaction of $1,011,592.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president owned 79,261 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,447,853.50. This represents a 22.68% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 328,805 shares of company stock valued at $15,067,754. 1.50% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Westside Investment Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Noble by 156.4% in the third quarter. Westside Investment Management Inc. now owns 864 shares of the company’s stock worth $25,000 after buying an additional 527 shares in the last quarter. Salomon & Ludwin LLC bought a new position in Noble during the third quarter valued at approximately $40,000. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its position in Noble by 77.8% during the fourth quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,440 shares of the company’s stock valued at $41,000 after purchasing an additional 630 shares during the period. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its position in Noble by 819.1% during 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. Finally, Strs Ohio bought a new position in Noble during the first quarter valued at approximately $142,000. Institutional investors 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.