Transocean (NYSE:RIG) Hits New 1-Year Low – Should You Sell?

Transocean Ltd. (NYSE:RIG)’s share price reached a new 52-week low during trading on Monday . The company traded as low as $2.92 and last traded at $2.93, with a volume of 3693944 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at $2.95.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

RIG has been the subject of a number of research reports. Benchmark reiterated a “hold” rating on shares of Transocean in a report on Tuesday, December 3rd. Evercore ISI downgraded shares of Transocean from an “outperform” rating to an “in-line” rating and decreased their price objective for the stock from $6.00 to $5.00 in a research note on Wednesday, January 15th. Barclays dropped their price objective on shares of Transocean from $4.50 to $4.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, February 25th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Transocean to a “sell” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 12th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded Transocean from an “underweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $5.00 price target for the company in a report on Friday, December 6th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $5.75.

Transocean Stock Performance

The firm has a market capitalization of $2.40 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -3.75, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.86 and a beta of 2.70. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.60, a quick ratio of 1.34 and a current ratio of 1.47. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $3.70 and its two-hundred day moving average is $4.09.

Transocean (NYSE:RIG) last announced its earnings results on Monday, February 17th. The offshore drilling services provider reported ($0.09) earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.02 by ($0.11). Transocean had a negative net margin of 14.53% and a negative return on equity of 0.52%. The business had revenue of $952.00 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $962.28 million. Analysts forecast that Transocean Ltd. will post 0.14 earnings per share for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, EVP Roderick James Mackenzie sold 22,000 shares of Transocean stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $3.85, for a total value of $84,700.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 313,072 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,205,327.20. This trade represents a 6.57 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. 13.16% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Transocean by 10.9% in the 3rd quarter. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. now owns 25,170 shares of the offshore drilling services provider’s stock worth $107,000 after acquiring an additional 2,469 shares during the period. Optiver Holding B.V. grew its position in Transocean by 53.6% in the 4th quarter. Optiver Holding B.V. now owns 8,400 shares of the offshore drilling services provider’s stock worth $32,000 after purchasing an additional 2,933 shares during the last quarter. Ballentine Partners LLC increased its stake in shares of Transocean by 19.4% in the fourth quarter. Ballentine Partners LLC now owns 18,247 shares of the offshore drilling services provider’s stock valued at $68,000 after purchasing an additional 2,963 shares during the period. Van Den Berg Management I Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Transocean by 11.9% during the fourth quarter. Van Den Berg Management I Inc. now owns 28,155 shares of the offshore drilling services provider’s stock valued at $106,000 after buying an additional 3,000 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Pallas Capital Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Transocean by 25.6% during the fourth quarter. Pallas Capital Advisors LLC now owns 15,332 shares of the offshore drilling services provider’s stock worth $57,000 after buying an additional 3,127 shares during the period. 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.