Noble (NYSE:NE) Stock Rating Lowered by Wall Street Zen

Noble (NYSE:NE) was downgraded by research analysts at Wall Street Zen from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report issued to clients and investors on Saturday.

A number of other research analysts also recently commented on NE. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Noble in a research note on Friday, July 24th. Zacks Research downgraded Noble from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 22nd. Susquehanna reduced their price target on Noble from $55.00 to $40.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, July 8th. Barclays lowered their price target on Noble from $55.00 to $53.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday. Finally, Fearnley Fonds upgraded Noble from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 29th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, two have assigned a Buy rating, seven have issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $44.71.

Noble Trading Down 0.2%

Noble stock opened at $42.33 on Friday. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $42.65 and its 200-day simple moving average is $44.39. The company has a quick ratio of 1.91, a current ratio of 1.91 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.42. Noble has a 12 month low of $25.24 and a 12 month high of $54.98. The stock has a market cap of $6.76 billion, a P/E ratio of 45.52 and a beta of 0.93.

Noble (NYSE:NE) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Monday, July 27th. The company reported $0.01 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.15 by ($0.14). Noble had a return on equity of 1.93% and a net margin of 4.88%.The company had revenue of $719.69 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $697.98 million. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.27 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was down 15.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Noble will post 0.76 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In other Noble news, Director Al J. Hirshberg sold 5,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the director owned 27,803 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,462,993.86. The trade was a 15.24% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Charles M. Sledge sold 724 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $51.61, for a total value of $37,365.64. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 1,360 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $70,189.60. This represents a 34.74% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last three months, insiders sold 125,724 shares of company stock valued at $6,049,266. Corporate insiders own 1.50% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Versant Capital Management Inc raised 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 acquiring an additional 382 shares in the last quarter. Rathbones Group PLC bought a new stake in Noble during the first quarter worth approximately $308,000. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its position in Noble by 20.4% during the first quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 3,080 shares of the company’s stock worth $151,000 after purchasing an additional 521 shares during the period. Parallel Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Noble by 43.7% during 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, Janney Montgomery Scott LLC acquired a new position in Noble during the first quarter valued at approximately $218,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 68.14% 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.