Transocean (NYSE:RIG) Upgraded to “Sell” by StockNews.com

StockNews.com upgraded shares of Transocean (NYSE:RIG) to a sell rating in a report issued on Monday morning.

A number of other analysts have also weighed in on RIG. Evercore ISI reduced their price target on shares of Transocean from $9.00 to $7.00 and set an outperform rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, May 1st. Bank of America increased their target price on shares of Transocean from $5.50 to $6.00 and gave the company an underperform rating in a research note on Monday, April 15th. Susquehanna raised shares of Transocean from a neutral rating to a positive rating and increased their target price for the company from $5.50 to $9.00 in a research note on Monday, April 8th. Finally, Benchmark reissued a buy rating and set a $8.00 target price on shares of Transocean in a research note on Friday, August 2nd. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of Hold and an average price target of $7.22.

Transocean Trading Up 5.0 %

Shares of NYSE:RIG opened at $5.28 on Monday. The company has a 50 day moving average of $5.36 and a 200-day moving average of $5.55. The firm has a market cap of $4.97 billion, a P/E ratio of -10.15 and a beta of 2.85. Transocean has a twelve month low of $4.45 and a twelve month high of $8.88. The company has a current ratio of 1.36, a quick ratio of 1.04 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.63.

Transocean (NYSE:RIG) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 31st. The offshore drilling services provider reported ($0.15) earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.08) by ($0.07). The company had revenue of $861.00 million during 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%. The company’s revenue was up 18.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted ($0.15) earnings per share. As a group, analysts anticipate 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 purchased 2,000,000 shares of Transocean stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 2nd. The stock was acquired at an average price of $5.23 per share, for a total transaction of $10,460,000.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 89,574,894 shares in the company, valued at $468,476,695.62. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. 13.16% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Transocean

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in RIG. Meeder Advisory Services Inc. increased its stake in Transocean by 104.3% in the 2nd quarter. Meeder Advisory Services Inc. now owns 29,344 shares of the offshore drilling services provider’s stock valued at $157,000 after buying an additional 14,984 shares during the period. American Century Companies Inc. increased its stake in Transocean by 24.3% in the 2nd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 13,437,572 shares of the offshore drilling services provider’s stock valued at $71,891,000 after buying an additional 2,623,615 shares during the period. PFG Investments LLC increased its stake in Transocean by 6.1% in the 2nd quarter. PFG Investments LLC now owns 183,137 shares of the offshore drilling services provider’s stock valued at $980,000 after buying an additional 10,500 shares during the period. General American Investors Co. Inc. increased its stake in Transocean by 8.3% in the 2nd quarter. General American Investors Co. Inc. now owns 650,000 shares of the offshore drilling services provider’s stock valued at $3,478,000 after buying an additional 50,000 shares during the period. Finally, Arizona State Retirement System increased its stake in Transocean by 3.2% in the 2nd quarter. Arizona State Retirement System now owns 206,501 shares of the offshore drilling services provider’s stock valued at $1,105,000 after buying an additional 6,395 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other 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.