Noble Corporation PLC $NE Shares Sold by SG Americas Securities LLC

SG Americas Securities LLC trimmed its position in shares of Noble Corporation PLC (NYSE:NE) by 95.2% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 21,116 shares of the company’s stock after selling 419,226 shares during the quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC’s holdings in Noble were worth $1,036,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in NE. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its holdings in Noble by 77.8% during the fourth quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,440 shares of the company’s stock worth $41,000 after buying an additional 630 shares in the last quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Noble by 819.1% in the second quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 2,601 shares of the company’s stock valued at $69,000 after buying an additional 2,318 shares in the last quarter. Strs Ohio purchased a new position in Noble in the first quarter valued at $142,000. Russell Investments Group Ltd. raised its position in shares of Noble by 1.1% in the third quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 886,766 shares of the company’s stock worth $25,078,000 after acquiring an additional 9,442 shares during the period. Finally, Captrust Financial Advisors acquired a new position in shares of Noble in the second quarter worth about $359,000. 68.14% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Noble Trading Down 0.2%

NE stock opened at $37.90 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.99, a quick ratio of 1.99 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.42. Noble Corporation PLC has a 12-month low of $25.24 and a 12-month high of $54.98. The stock has a market cap of $6.05 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.50 and a beta of 0.92. The business’s 50-day moving average is $46.81 and its 200 day moving average is $42.57.

Noble (NYSE:NE) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Monday, April 27th. The company reported $0.26 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.21 by $0.05. Noble had a return on equity of 2.32% and a net margin of 7.17%.The company had revenue of $785.69 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $730.47 million. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.26 EPS. Noble’s quarterly revenue was down 10.1% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Noble Corporation PLC will post 0.94 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Noble Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 25th. Investors of record on Thursday, June 4th were given a dividend of $0.50 per share. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 5.3%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, June 4th. Noble’s payout ratio is presently 139.86%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Citigroup lowered their target price on shares of Noble from $52.00 to $45.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, June 30th. Wall Street Zen upgraded Noble from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, May 2nd. Zacks Research raised Noble from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, May 19th. Barclays upgraded Noble from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and increased their price target for the stock from $50.00 to $56.00 in a research report on Thursday, May 7th. Finally, Evercore set a $59.00 price objective on Noble in a report on Monday, April 27th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and nine have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $44.50.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Al J. Hirshberg sold 5,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, May 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $52.62, for a total value of $263,100.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 27,803 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,462,993.86. This represents a 15.24% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Robert W. Eifler sold 50,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, June 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $45.51, for a total value of $2,275,500.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 1,193,828 shares in the company, valued at $54,331,112.28. The trade was a 4.02% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold 143,550 shares of company stock valued at $6,985,436 in the last three months. Company insiders own 1.50% of the company’s stock.

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.