Transocean’s (RIG) Buy Rating Reiterated at Benchmark

Benchmark restated their buy rating on shares of Transocean (NYSE:RIG) in a report published on Friday, Benzinga reports. They currently have a $8.00 price target on the offshore drilling services provider’s stock.

RIG has been the topic of several other research reports. Susquehanna upgraded shares of Transocean from a neutral rating to a positive rating and boosted their target price for the company from $5.50 to $9.00 in a report on Monday, April 8th. Bank of America upped their price objective on shares of Transocean from $5.50 to $6.00 and gave the company an underperform rating in a report on Monday, April 15th. Finally, Evercore ISI dropped their price objective on shares of Transocean from $9.00 to $7.00 and set an outperform rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, May 1st. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of Hold and an average price target of $7.22.

Transocean Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:RIG traded up $0.04 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $5.05. 7,591,277 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 18,044,840. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $5.41 and its 200-day moving average price is $5.56. 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 has a twelve month low of $4.45 and a twelve month high of $8.88.

Transocean (NYSE:RIG) last issued its quarterly earnings results 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). The business had revenue of $861.00 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $862.25 million. Transocean had a negative return on equity of 4.76% and a negative net margin of 11.34%. Transocean’s revenue for the quarter was up 18.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted ($0.15) EPS. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Transocean will post -0.04 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Transocean

In other news, Director (Cyprus) Ltd Perestroika bought 2,000,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, August 2nd. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $5.23 per share, for a total transaction of $10,460,000.00. Following the purchase, the director now directly owns 89,574,894 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $468,476,695.62. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 13.16% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Transocean

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. OLD Point Trust & Financial Services N A bought a new position in shares of Transocean during the 4th quarter valued at $25,000. VisionPoint Advisory Group LLC bought a new position in shares of Transocean during the 4th quarter valued at $28,000. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Transocean during the 2nd quarter valued at $30,000. Private Trust Co. NA grew its holdings in shares of Transocean by 1,489.8% during the 4th quarter. Private Trust Co. NA now owns 8,537 shares of the offshore drilling services provider’s stock valued at $54,000 after purchasing an additional 8,000 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Fiducient Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Transocean during the 1st quarter valued at $63,000. Institutional investors own 67.73% of the company’s stock.

Transocean Company Profile

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.