Transocean (NYSE:RIG) Raised to Sell at StockNews.com

Transocean (NYSE:RIG) was upgraded by analysts at StockNews.com to a “sell” rating in a research report issued on Monday.

A number of other research analysts have also commented on RIG. Susquehanna upgraded Transocean from a “neutral” rating to a “positive” rating and upped their target price for the company from $5.50 to $9.00 in a research note on Monday, April 8th. Evercore ISI lowered their target price on Transocean from $9.00 to $7.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, May 1st. Bank of America increased their price objective on Transocean from $5.50 to $6.00 and gave the company an “underperform” rating in a report on Monday, April 15th. Finally, Benchmark reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $8.00 price objective on shares of Transocean in a report on Friday. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $7.22.

Transocean Stock Performance

NYSE RIG traded down $0.18 on Monday, hitting $5.02. 30,356,753 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 18,114,078. The firm has a market cap of $4.72 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -9.65 and a beta of 2.85. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $5.41 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $5.56. Transocean has a fifty-two week low of $4.45 and a fifty-two week high of $8.88. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.63, a current ratio of 1.36 and a quick ratio of 1.04.

Transocean (NYSE:RIG) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 31st. The offshore drilling services provider reported ($0.15) EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.08) by ($0.07). Transocean had a negative return on equity of 4.76% and a negative net margin of 11.34%. The company had revenue of $861.00 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $862.25 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned ($0.15) earnings per share. Transocean’s quarterly revenue was up 18.1% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts expect that Transocean will post -0.04 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity

In other Transocean news, Director (Cyprus) Ltd Perestroika acquired 2,000,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 2nd. The stock was bought at an average price of $5.23 per share, with a total value of $10,460,000.00. Following the purchase, the director now owns 89,574,894 shares in the company, valued at $468,476,695.62. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Company insiders own 13.16% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in RIG. OLD Point Trust & Financial Services N A acquired a new stake in shares of Transocean in the fourth quarter worth $25,000. VisionPoint Advisory Group LLC acquired a new stake in Transocean in the fourth quarter worth $28,000. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC bought a new position in Transocean in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $30,000. Private Trust Co. NA lifted its stake in shares of Transocean by 1,489.8% in the 4th quarter. Private Trust Co. NA now owns 8,537 shares of the offshore drilling services provider’s stock worth $54,000 after acquiring an additional 8,000 shares during the period. Finally, Fiducient Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Transocean during the first quarter worth about $63,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 67.73% of the company’s stock.

About Transocean

Transocean Ltd., together with its subsidiaries, provides offshore contract drilling services for oil and gas wells worldwide. It contracts mobile offshore drilling rigs, related equipment, and work crews to drill oil and gas wells. The company operates a fleet of mobile offshore drilling units, consisting of ultra-deepwater floaters and harsh environment floaters.