Transocean Ltd. (NYSE:RIG) Receives Consensus Recommendation of “Hold” from Brokerages

Shares of Transocean Ltd. (NYSE:RIG) have earned a consensus rating of “Hold” from the ten ratings firms that are currently covering the stock, Marketbeat Ratings reports. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, four have assigned a hold recommendation and five have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average 12-month target price among brokerages that have covered the stock in the last year is $7.70.

A number of analysts recently commented on RIG shares. Benchmark reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $8.00 price target on shares of Transocean in a research note on Tuesday, April 30th. Bank of America raised their price target on Transocean from $5.50 to $6.00 and gave the stock an “underperform” rating in a research note on Monday, April 15th. Evercore ISI dropped their price target on Transocean from $9.00 to $7.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, May 1st. Finally, Susquehanna raised Transocean from a “neutral” rating to a “positive” rating and raised their price target for the stock from $5.50 to $9.00 in a research note on Monday, April 8th.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director (Cyprus) Ltd Perestroika acquired 2,000,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 15th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $6.01 per share, for a total transaction of $12,020,000.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director now owns 87,574,894 shares in the company, valued at $526,325,112.94. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 13.16% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Transocean

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Transocean by 0.6% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 68,982,142 shares of the offshore drilling services provider’s stock valued at $433,208,000 after acquiring an additional 429,950 shares in the last quarter. Primecap Management Co. CA increased its holdings in shares of Transocean by 11.4% during the fourth quarter. Primecap Management Co. CA now owns 50,699,389 shares of the offshore drilling services provider’s stock valued at $321,941,000 after acquiring an additional 5,168,000 shares in the last quarter. Capital World Investors increased its holdings in shares of Transocean by 18.8% during the first quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 46,334,990 shares of the offshore drilling services provider’s stock valued at $290,984,000 after acquiring an additional 7,320,672 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its holdings in shares of Transocean by 23.2% during the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 35,690,620 shares of the offshore drilling services provider’s stock valued at $226,641,000 after acquiring an additional 6,719,483 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Van ECK Associates Corp increased its holdings in shares of Transocean by 7.0% during the first quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 17,013,964 shares of the offshore drilling services provider’s stock valued at $106,848,000 after acquiring an additional 1,105,747 shares in the last quarter. 67.73% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Transocean Stock Performance

NYSE:RIG opened at $5.27 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $4.96 billion, a PE ratio of -10.13 and a beta of 2.85. 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 0.65, a quick ratio of 1.04 and a current ratio of 1.35. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $5.51 and a 200-day moving average price of $5.57.

Transocean (NYSE:RIG) last released its quarterly earnings data on Monday, April 29th. The offshore drilling services provider reported ($0.03) earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.13) by $0.10. The firm had revenue of $767.00 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $781.86 million. Transocean had a negative return on equity of 4.67% and a negative net margin of 13.27%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 18.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted ($0.38) earnings per share. Equities research analysts predict that Transocean will post -0.04 earnings per share for the current year.

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.