Eschler Asset Management LLP Invests $374,000 in Transocean Ltd. $RIG

Eschler Asset Management LLP bought a new position in shares of Transocean Ltd. (NYSE:RIG) during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund bought 120,000 shares of the offshore drilling services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $374,000.

Other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Josh Arnold Investment Consultant LLC acquired a new stake in Transocean in the second quarter worth about $26,000. Blueshift Asset Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Transocean in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $27,000. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. raised its position in shares of Transocean by 78.0% in the 2nd quarter. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. now owns 10,729 shares of the offshore drilling services provider’s stock valued at $28,000 after purchasing an additional 4,700 shares during the last quarter. Benedict Financial Advisors Inc. acquired a new stake in Transocean in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $31,000. Finally, Vestmark Advisory Solutions Inc. purchased a new stake in Transocean during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $31,000. 67.73% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have issued reports on the stock. Pareto Securities cut shares of Transocean from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating and set a $5.25 price target for the company. in a report on Tuesday, February 10th. BTIG Research boosted their price objective on shares of Transocean from $6.00 to $10.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, February 9th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reissued an “underweight” rating on shares of Transocean in a research report on Wednesday, December 10th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Transocean in a research report on Thursday, January 22nd. Finally, Fearnley Fonds downgraded Transocean from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 10th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have given a Hold rating and three have issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Transocean currently has an average rating of “Reduce” and an average target price of $6.38.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP Roderick James Mackenzie sold 78,370 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $6.36, for a total value of $498,433.20. Following the sale, the executive vice president owned 268,025 shares in the company, valued at $1,704,639. This represents a 22.62% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Keelan Adamson sold 58,687 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $5.00, for a total value of $293,435.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 1,222,182 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,110,910. This trade represents a 4.58% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold a total of 159,903 shares of company stock worth $906,098 over the last ninety days. 12.27% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Transocean Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE RIG opened at $6.27 on Friday. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $5.38 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $4.28. The stock has a market cap of $6.92 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -1.99 and a beta of 1.40. The company has a current ratio of 1.56, a quick ratio of 1.27 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64. Transocean Ltd. has a 12 month low of $1.97 and a 12 month high of $6.96.

Transocean (NYSE:RIG) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 19th. The offshore drilling services provider reported $0.02 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.09 by ($0.07). The business had revenue of $1.04 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.03 billion. Transocean had a positive return on equity of 0.41% and a negative net margin of 73.52%.The firm’s revenue was up 9.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned ($0.09) EPS. As a group, analysts predict that Transocean Ltd. will post 0.14 earnings per share for the current year.

About Transocean

Transocean Ltd. is a leading international provider of offshore contract drilling services for the oil and gas industry. The company specializes in the operation of mobile drilling units, including ultra-deepwater drillships, semisubmersible rigs and high-specification jackup rigs. Transocean’s fleet is designed to meet complex drilling requirements, from ultra-deepwater well construction to shelf exploration and development projects.

The company’s core services encompass the full spectrum of offshore drilling operations, including project and engineering management, marine operations, drilling supervision, and maintenance support.