Noble (NYSE:NE) SVP Jennie Howard Sells 2,486 Shares of Stock

Noble Corporation PLC (NYSE:NE) SVP Jennie Howard sold 2,486 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, April 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $51.08, for a total value of $126,984.88. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president owned 15,676 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $800,730.08. The trade was a 13.69% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink.

Jennie Howard also recently made the following trade(s):

• On Friday, February 13th, Jennie Howard sold 6,094 shares of Noble stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $42.00, for a total value of $255,948.00.

Noble Stock Performance

Shares of NE stock opened at $51.19 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.42, a quick ratio of 1.67 and a current ratio of 1.99. Noble Corporation PLC has a fifty-two week low of $21.75 and a fifty-two week high of $54.57. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $47.82 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $37.50. The company has a market capitalization of $8.17 billion, a P/E ratio of 35.80 and a beta of 1.00.

Noble (NYSE:NE) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Sunday, April 26th. The company reported $0.26 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.21 by $0.05. The firm had revenue of $785.69 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $730.47 million. Noble had a return on equity of 2.32% and a net margin of 7.17%.The business’s revenue was down 10.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.26 earnings per share. Analysts expect that Noble Corporation PLC will post 1.06 earnings per share for the current year.

Noble Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 25th. Investors of record on Thursday, June 4th will be issued a dividend of $0.50 per share. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.9%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, June 4th. Noble’s dividend payout ratio is currently 139.86%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Noble

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of NE. SG Americas Securities LLC grew its stake in shares of Noble by 424.2% in the fourth quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 440,342 shares of the company’s stock worth $12,435,000 after acquiring an additional 356,333 shares during the last quarter. Hara Capital LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Noble in the fourth quarter worth $4,902,000. Natixis Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Noble in the third quarter worth $3,935,000. Hosking Partners LLP grew its stake in shares of Noble by 10.0% in the fourth quarter. Hosking Partners LLP now owns 1,140,328 shares of the company’s stock worth $32,203,000 after acquiring an additional 103,477 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Sagefield Capital LP grew its stake in shares of Noble by 40.0% in the fourth quarter. Sagefield Capital LP now owns 182,844 shares of the company’s stock worth $5,164,000 after acquiring an additional 52,261 shares during the last quarter. 68.14% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages recently commented on NE. Evercore set a $59.00 target price on Noble in a report on Monday. Citigroup upped their target price on Noble from $42.00 to $50.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 15th. Barclays upped their target price on Noble from $41.00 to $50.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday. SEB Equity Research set a $33.00 target price on Noble in a report on Tuesday, January 27th. Finally, Susquehanna upped their target price on Noble from $45.00 to $50.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 7th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, nine have issued a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Reduce” and a consensus price target of $44.38.

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.