Noble Corporation PLC (NYSE:NE) Stock Rated “Moderate Buy” by Wall Street Analysts

Noble Corporation PLC (NYSE:NE) has been assigned an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the nine analysts that are currently covering the firm, MarketBeat reports. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, three have issued a buy recommendation and one has given a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 1-year target price among analysts that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $46.57.

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on NE shares. Zacks Research upgraded shares of Noble from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, October 9th. Barclays reduced their target price on shares of Noble from $55.00 to $53.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, July 30th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Noble in a report on Thursday, October 22nd. Noble Financial assumed coverage on shares of Noble in a research report on Thursday. They issued an “outperform” rating for the company. Finally, Citigroup raised their price target on shares of Noble from $50.00 to $52.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Noble

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Arizona State Retirement System raised its position in shares of Noble by 0.7% in the 2nd quarter. Arizona State Retirement System now owns 35,142 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,311,000 after acquiring an additional 237 shares in the last quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc lifted its stake in shares of Noble by 44.4% in the 2nd quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 1,243 shares of the company’s stock valued at $46,000 after purchasing an additional 382 shares during the period. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Noble by 20.4% in the 1st quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 3,080 shares of the company’s stock valued at $151,000 after purchasing an additional 521 shares during the period. Cim Investment Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of Noble by 7.4% during the 2nd quarter. Cim Investment Management Inc. now owns 7,562 shares of the company’s stock valued at $282,000 after purchasing an additional 522 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Parallel Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Noble by 43.7% during the 1st quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 2,693 shares of the company’s stock valued at $132,000 after purchasing an additional 819 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 68.14% of the company’s stock.

Noble Price Performance

Shares of NE opened at $45.36 on Tuesday. Noble has a 12-month low of $27.67 and a 12-month high of $54.98. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $44.55 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $44.47. The company has a quick ratio of 1.91, a current ratio of 1.76 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.44. The stock has a market cap of $7.24 billion, a PE ratio of 137.47 and a beta of 1.00.

Noble (NYSE:NE) last posted its earnings results on Monday, October 26th. The company reported ($0.57) EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.23 by ($0.80). Noble had a net margin of 1.79% and a negative return on equity of 0.76%. The firm had revenue of $728.76 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $713.82 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted ($0.13) earnings per share. Noble’s revenue for the quarter was down 8.6% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts anticipate that Noble will post 0.47 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Noble Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 17th. Investors of record on Wednesday, November 25th will be paid a $0.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, November 25th. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.4%. Noble’s payout ratio is currently 606.06%.

Noble Company Profile

Noble Corporation plc (NYSE: NE) is an offshore drilling contractor that provides drilling services to the global oil and gas industry. The company operates a fleet of offshore drilling units, including drillships, semisubmersible rigs and jackup rigs, which are used to explore for and develop oil and natural gas reserves beneath the seabed.

Noble’s services include contract drilling, well planning, project management and other related support services. Its drilling units are designed to operate in a range of offshore environments, including deepwater and harsh-environment locations.