Essex LLC Acquires New Shares in Transocean Ltd. $RIG

Essex LLC acquired a new position in Transocean Ltd. (NYSE:RIG) during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 102,571 shares of the offshore drilling services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $537,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in RIG. Forvis Mazars Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Transocean in the 3rd quarter valued at $7,874,000. Sax Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Transocean during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $90,000. GAMMA Investing LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Transocean during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $88,000. Farther Finance Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Transocean in the third quarter worth $642,000. Finally, Versant Capital Management Inc increased its stake in Transocean by 15.6% in the third quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 15,550 shares of the offshore drilling services provider’s stock valued at $81,000 after purchasing an additional 2,099 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 67.73% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have recently commented on RIG. Weiss Ratings restated a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Transocean in a report on Friday, July 17th. Fearnley Fonds upgraded Transocean from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, August 7th. Zacks Research raised Transocean from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, October 5th. Susquehanna dropped their price target on shares of Transocean from $8.00 to $7.00 and set a “positive” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, July 8th. Finally, Barclays decreased their price objective on shares of Transocean from $8.00 to $7.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, August 12th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, three have given a Buy rating, four have issued a Hold rating and three have assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $6.68.

Transocean Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:RIG traded down $0.07 during midday trading on Wednesday, reaching $5.58. 57,908,317 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 40,535,621. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $5.63 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $5.84. Transocean Ltd. has a 12 month low of $3.14 and a 12 month high of $7.66. The firm has a market capitalization of $6.23 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -2.97, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.14 and a beta of 1.41. The company has a quick ratio of 1.27, a current ratio of 1.59 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.56.

Transocean (NYSE:RIG) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 5th. The offshore drilling services provider reported $0.03 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.01 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $966.00 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $956.64 million. Transocean had a negative net margin of 40.24% and a positive return on equity of 2.60%. Transocean’s revenue for the quarter was down 2.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned ($1.06) earnings per share. On average, equities analysts expect that Transocean Ltd. will post 0.18 earnings per share for the current year.

Transocean Profile

Transocean Ltd. is an offshore contract drilling company that provides drilling services to the international oil and gas industry. The company operates a fleet of mobile offshore drilling units, including ultra-deepwater and harsh-environment drillships and semisubmersible rigs, which are contracted by energy companies to drill exploration, appraisal and development wells.

Transocean’s services support offshore drilling programs in challenging environments around the world. Its operations have included activity in the Gulf of Mexico, Brazil, the North Sea, West Africa and other major offshore regions.