Oil Drillers Noble and Ensco Join Gilead in Thursday's 52-Week Low Club

September 1, 2016: Here are four stocks trading with relatively heavy volume among 39 equities making new 52-week lows in Thursday’s session. NYSE decliners led advancers by about 5 to 4 and Nasdaq decliners led advancers by nearly the same margin.

Noble Corp. plc (NYSE: NE) lost about 5.4% Thursday to post a new 52-week low of $5.45 after closing Wednesday at $5.76. The 52-week high is $14.64. Volume of more than 10 million was nearly 20% higher than the daily average of around 8.6 million. The company had no specific news Thursday.

Gilead Sciences Inc. (NASDAQ: GILD) dropped about 1.8% on Thursday to post a new 52-week low of $76.96 against a 52-week high of $113.31. Volume of around 9.1 million was about 10% below the daily average of nearly 10.2 million. The stock closed at $78.38 on Wednesday night. The company had no specific news.

Ensco plc (NYSE: ESV) dropped nearly 5.7% on Thursday to post a new 52-week low of $7.16 after closing at $7.59 on Wednesday. The stock’s 52-week high is $18.93. Volume was about 5% higher than the daily average of around 7.4 million shares. Another offshore drilling company that had no news other than a second consecutive sharp drop in crude oil prices.

DHT Holdings Inc. (NYSE: DHT) dropped about 6.3% on Thursday to post a new 52-week low of $4.04 against a 52-week high of $8.48. Volume of around 3.9 million was about 50% above the daily average of around 2.6 million. The stock closed at $4.31 on Wednesday night. Low oil prices signal lower demand for tankers to carry crude.