39,700 Shares in Noble Corporation PLC $NE Purchased by VIRGINIA RETIREMENT SYSTEMS ET Al

VIRGINIA RETIREMENT SYSTEMS ET Al purchased a new position in shares of Noble Corporation PLC (NYSE:NE) in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 39,700 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,481,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. First Eagle Investment Management LLC boosted its holdings in Noble by 2.9% in the 2nd quarter. First Eagle Investment Management LLC now owns 13,957,162 shares of the company’s stock worth $520,602,000 after buying an additional 395,316 shares during the last quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System raised its holdings in shares of Noble by 3,596.0% during the second quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System now owns 5,503,205 shares of the company’s stock valued at $205,270,000 after acquiring an additional 5,354,310 shares during the last quarter. Bank of America Corp DE raised its holdings in shares of Noble by 101.9% during the second quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 1,347,291 shares of the company’s stock valued at $50,254,000 after acquiring an additional 679,981 shares during the last quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. lifted its position in shares of Noble by 2.8% in the fourth quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 911,491 shares of the company’s stock valued at $25,740,000 after acquiring an additional 24,725 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Sagefield Capital LP lifted its position in shares of Noble by 40.0% in the fourth quarter. Sagefield Capital LP now owns 182,844 shares of the company’s stock valued at $5,164,000 after acquiring an additional 52,261 shares in the last quarter. 68.14% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Noble Trading Down 1.1%

Shares of Noble stock opened at $45.26 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $7.23 billion, a P/E ratio of 48.67 and a beta of 0.92. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $43.30 and its 200-day simple moving average is $45.78. Noble Corporation PLC has a 1-year low of $26.69 and a 1-year high of $54.98. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.42, a current ratio of 1.91 and a quick ratio of 1.91.

Noble (NYSE:NE) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Monday, July 27th. The company reported $0.01 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.15 by ($0.14). Noble had a net margin of 4.88% and a return on equity of 1.93%. The company had revenue of $719.69 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $697.98 million. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.27 EPS. Noble’s revenue for the quarter was down 15.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts predict that Noble Corporation PLC will post 0.54 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Noble Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 24th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, September 3rd will be issued a $0.50 dividend. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.4%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, September 3rd. Noble’s dividend payout ratio is presently 215.05%.

Insider Transactions at Noble

In other Noble news, CEO Robert Eifler sold 50,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, June 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $45.51, for a total value of $2,275,500.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 1,193,828 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $54,331,112.28. This trade represents a 4.02% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. 1.50% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages recently commented on NE. Barclays dropped their price target on Noble from $55.00 to $53.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, July 30th. Fearnley Fonds upgraded Noble from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 29th. Citigroup reaffirmed a “neutral” rating on shares of Noble in a research note on Monday, September 7th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Noble in a report on Friday, July 24th. Finally, Zacks Research cut shares of Noble from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 22nd. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, two have given a Buy rating, five have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $44.71.

About Noble

Noble Corporation plc (NYSE:NE) is an offshore drilling contractor that provides services to energy companies involved in the exploration and development of oil and natural gas resources. The company operates a fleet of offshore drilling units, including drillships, semisubmersible rigs and jackup rigs, and performs drilling activities in deepwater, harsh-environment and other offshore settings.

Noble’s services include contract drilling, rig operations and related offshore support for exploration and production programs.