Noble (NYSE:NE) Cut to Strong Sell at Zacks Research

Zacks Research downgraded shares of Noble (NYSE:NE) from a hold rating to a strong sell rating in a research note released on Monday morning,Zacks.com reports.

NE has been the subject of a number of other reports. BTIG Research lifted their price target on shares of Noble from $35.00 to $42.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, February 2nd. SEB Equity Research set a $33.00 price target on shares of Noble in a research note on Tuesday, January 27th. Fearnley Fonds lowered shares of Noble from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 11th. Barclays lowered shares of Noble from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and lifted their price target for the stock from $36.00 to $41.00 in a research note on Wednesday, February 18th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target 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. One analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, nine have issued a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Noble presently has a consensus rating of “Reduce” and an average target price of $41.50.

Noble Trading Up 1.1%

NYSE:NE opened at $47.86 on Monday. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $47.07 and a 200-day moving average price of $36.65. Noble has a 12 month low of $19.70 and a 12 month high of $51.61. The company has a current ratio of 1.67, a quick ratio of 1.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43. The stock has a market cap of $7.63 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.45 and a beta of 1.00.

Noble (NYSE:NE) last posted its earnings results 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 company had revenue of $764.41 million during the quarter. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.56 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 17.6% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts predict that Noble will post 1.06 EPS for the current year.

Noble Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 19th. Investors of record on Wednesday, March 4th were given a dividend of $0.50 per share. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.2%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, March 4th. Noble’s payout ratio is 148.15%.

Insider Activity at Noble

In related news, SVP Mikkel Ipsen sold 3,453 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $43.56, for a total transaction of $150,412.68. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president directly owned 11,854 shares in the company, valued at approximately $516,360.24. The trade was a 22.56% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Charles M. Sledge sold 2,083 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $44.63, for a total transaction of $92,964.29. Following the sale, the director owned 2,084 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $93,008.92. This trade represents a 49.99% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders sold a total of 328,805 shares of company stock valued at $15,067,754 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 1.50% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Noble

Large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. SG Americas Securities LLC grew its position in Noble by 424.2% during the fourth quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 440,342 shares of the company’s stock valued at $12,435,000 after buying an additional 356,333 shares during the period. Hara Capital LLC bought a new stake in Noble during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $4,902,000. Natixis Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Noble during the third quarter valued at approximately $3,935,000. State of Tennessee Department of Treasury purchased a new position in Noble during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $1,109,000. Finally, Captrust Financial Advisors purchased a new position in Noble during the second quarter valued at approximately $359,000. 68.14% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.