Systematic Financial Management LP Cuts Stock Holdings in Noble Corporation PLC $NE

Systematic Financial Management LP lowered its position in shares of Noble Corporation PLC (NYSE:NE) by 5.8% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 491,609 shares of the company’s stock after selling 30,144 shares during the period. Systematic Financial Management LP’s holdings in Noble were worth $24,123,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in NE. Parallel Advisors LLC lifted its position in Noble by 43.7% in the 1st quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 2,693 shares of the company’s stock valued at $132,000 after acquiring an additional 819 shares in the last quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC bought a new stake in shares of Noble in the 1st quarter worth $218,000. State of Tennessee Department of Treasury bought a new stake in shares of Noble in the 4th quarter worth $1,109,000. Sagefield Capital LP raised its stake in shares of Noble by 40.0% in the fourth quarter. Sagefield Capital LP now owns 182,844 shares of the company’s stock worth $5,164,000 after purchasing an additional 52,261 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Russell Investments Group Ltd. raised its stake 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 worth $25,740,000 after purchasing an additional 24,725 shares during the last quarter. 68.14% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Noble

In other news, Director Charles M. Sledge sold 724 shares of the company’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 represents a 34.74% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, SVP Joey M. Kawaja sold 40,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $49.85, for a total transaction of $1,994,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president owned 40,071 shares in the company, valued at $1,997,539.35. This trade represents a 49.96% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 143,550 shares of company stock worth $6,985,436. 1.50% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts recently commented on the company. Evercore set a $59.00 price objective on Noble in a research report on Monday, April 27th. Wall Street Zen raised Noble from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, May 2nd. Susquehanna decreased their target price on Noble from $55.00 to $40.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, July 8th. Zacks Research upgraded shares of Noble from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 19th. Finally, Citigroup dropped their price target on shares of Noble from $52.00 to $45.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, June 30th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and nine have issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $43.12.

Noble Price Performance

NYSE NE opened at $43.21 on Friday. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $44.04 and its 200-day moving average price is $43.89. The stock has a market capitalization of $6.89 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.22 and a beta of 0.92. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.42, a current ratio of 1.99 and a quick ratio of 1.99. Noble Corporation PLC has a 1-year low of $25.24 and a 1-year high of $54.98.

Noble (NYSE:NE) last issued 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. The company had revenue of $785.69 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $730.47 million. Noble had a return on equity of 2.32% and a net margin of 7.17%.Noble’s revenue was down 10.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.26 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts predict that Noble Corporation PLC will post 0.81 earnings per share for the current year.

Noble Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 25th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, June 4th were given a $0.50 dividend. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.6%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, June 4th. Noble’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 139.86%.

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.