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

Zacks Research lowered shares of Noble (NYSE:NE) from a hold rating to a strong sell rating in a report released on Wednesday,Zacks.com reports.

A number of other analysts also recently issued reports on NE. Susquehanna dropped their price objective on shares of Noble from $55.00 to $40.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, July 8th. Wall Street Zen upgraded Noble from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, May 2nd. Evercore set a $59.00 price target on Noble in a research report on Monday, April 27th. Weiss Ratings lowered Noble from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 29th. Finally, Barclays reduced their price objective on Noble from $56.00 to $55.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, July 16th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eight have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $43.12.

Noble Trading Up 0.5%

Shares of NE opened at $43.31 on Wednesday. Noble has a 1-year low of $25.24 and a 1-year high of $54.98. The company has a market capitalization of $6.91 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.28 and a beta of 0.92. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.42, a current ratio of 1.99 and a quick ratio of 1.99. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $43.85 and its 200 day simple moving average is $43.88.

Noble (NYSE:NE) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, April 27th. The company reported $0.26 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.21 by $0.05. The business had revenue of $785.69 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $730.47 million. Noble had a net margin of 7.17% and a return on equity of 2.32%. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 10.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.26 EPS. Sell-side analysts forecast that Noble will post 0.81 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Noble Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 25th. Investors of record on Thursday, June 4th were issued a dividend of $0.50 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, June 4th. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.6%. Noble’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 139.86%.

Insider Activity at Noble

In related news, SVP Joey M. Kawaja sold 40,000 shares of Noble stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $49.85, for a total value of $1,994,000.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president owned 40,071 shares in the company, valued at $1,997,539.35. This trade represents a 49.96% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, SVP Caroline Alting sold 15,340 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $52.75, for a total transaction of $809,185.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president directly owned 8,170 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $430,967.50. This represents a 65.25% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold 143,550 shares of company stock worth $6,985,436 in the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 1.50% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Noble

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of NE. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its holdings in Noble by 77.8% during the 4th quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,440 shares of the company’s stock valued at $41,000 after acquiring an additional 630 shares during the period. Versant Capital Management Inc increased its stake in Noble by 44.4% in the 2nd quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 1,243 shares of the company’s stock worth $46,000 after purchasing an additional 382 shares during the period. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC increased its stake in 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 during the period. Parallel Advisors LLC lifted its position in Noble by 43.7% in the first quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 2,693 shares of the company’s stock valued at $132,000 after purchasing an additional 819 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Strs Ohio purchased a new stake in shares of 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.