Transocean (NYSE:RIG) Shares Down 3.2% After Analyst Downgrade

Transocean Ltd. (NYSE:RIG) shares dropped 3.2% during trading on Tuesday after Barclays lowered their price target on the stock from $4.00 to $3.50. Barclays currently has an overweight rating on the stock. Transocean traded as low as $2.30 and last traded at $2.30. Approximately 7,766,775 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 66% from the average daily volume of 22,963,192 shares. The stock had previously closed at $2.37.

Several other research analysts have also recently weighed in on the company. Citigroup reduced their price target on Transocean from $4.50 to $3.50 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, March 19th. TD Cowen cut their target price on shares of Transocean from $6.50 to $5.50 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, January 8th. Evercore ISI downgraded shares of Transocean from an “outperform” rating to an “in-line” rating and lowered their price target for the stock from $6.00 to $5.00 in a report on Wednesday, January 15th. Morgan Stanley dropped their price target on shares of Transocean from $5.00 to $4.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, March 27th. Finally, SEB Equity Research set a $2.80 price objective on shares of Transocean in a research report on Wednesday, March 5th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $4.98.

Insider Transactions at Transocean

In other news, EVP Roderick James Mackenzie sold 22,000 shares of Transocean stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $3.85, for a total value of $84,700.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 313,072 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,205,327.20. The trade was a 6.57 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Corporate insiders own 13.16% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. American Century Companies Inc. raised its position in shares of Transocean by 51.5% in the fourth quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 19,257,437 shares of the offshore drilling services provider’s stock valued at $72,215,000 after buying an additional 6,542,271 shares during the last quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC acquired a new stake in Transocean in the 4th quarter valued at about $16,608,000. SIR Capital Management L.P. purchased a new position in Transocean in the 4th quarter worth approximately $14,976,000. Van ECK Associates Corp boosted its holdings in shares of Transocean by 33.9% during the 4th quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 15,393,873 shares of the offshore drilling services provider’s stock worth $57,727,000 after purchasing an additional 3,895,880 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Madison Investment Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Transocean in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $11,156,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 67.73% of the company’s stock.

Transocean Stock Performance

The stock has a market cap of $2.03 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -3.14, a PEG ratio of 0.86 and a beta of 2.29. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.60, a current ratio of 1.47 and a quick ratio of 1.34. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $3.27 and a 200 day moving average of $3.83.

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

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.