Noble (NYSE:NE) Upgraded at Fearnley Fonds

Noble (NYSE:NE) was upgraded by research analysts at Fearnley Fonds from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report issued on Wednesday,Zacks.com reports.

Other analysts have also issued research reports about the stock. Evercore set a $59.00 price objective on shares of Noble in a research report on Monday, April 27th. Barclays lowered their price target on shares of Noble from $56.00 to $55.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, July 16th. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Noble from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, May 2nd. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Noble in a research note on Friday, July 24th. Finally, Susquehanna decreased their price objective on Noble from $55.00 to $40.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, July 8th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, two have issued a Buy rating, seven have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $45.00.

Noble Stock Up 4.4%

Shares of Noble stock opened at $40.93 on Wednesday. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $43.06 and its 200 day simple moving average is $44.23. Noble has a 52-week low of $25.24 and a 52-week high of $54.98. The firm has a market cap of $6.53 billion, a PE ratio of 44.02 and a beta of 0.92. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.42, a quick ratio of 1.99 and a current ratio of 1.91.

Noble (NYSE:NE) last released 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). The firm had revenue of $719.69 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $697.98 million. Noble had a return on equity of 1.93% and a net margin of 4.88%.The company’s revenue was down 15.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.27 EPS. On average, analysts predict that Noble will post 0.81 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Noble

In other news, SVP Blake Denton sold 30,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $49.31, for a total value of $1,479,300.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president directly owned 29,927 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,475,700.37. This represents a 50.06% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Charles M. Sledge sold 724 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $51.61, for a total transaction of $37,365.64. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 1,360 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $70,189.60. This trade represents a 34.74% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold 125,724 shares of company stock worth $6,049,266 over the last ninety days. Company insiders own 1.50% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Noble

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in NE. Hosking Partners LLP boosted its stake in shares of Noble by 10.0% during the 4th 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 period. De Lisle Partners LLP bought a new stake in Noble in the 4th quarter valued at $824,000. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its stake in Noble by 77.8% in the 4th quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,440 shares of the company’s stock valued at $41,000 after acquiring an additional 630 shares during the period. Natixis Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Noble during the 3rd quarter valued at $3,935,000. Finally, State of Tennessee Department of Treasury acquired a new stake in Noble during the 4th quarter valued at $1,109,000. 68.14% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.