Vanguard Group Inc. Raises Stock Holdings in Transocean Ltd. (NYSE:RIG)

Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in Transocean Ltd. (NYSE:RIG) by 6.4% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 68,552,192 shares of the offshore drilling services provider’s stock after buying an additional 4,107,956 shares during the quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. owned approximately 8.47% of Transocean worth $435,306,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of RIG. Fisher Asset Management LLC increased its holdings in Transocean by 11.0% during the 4th quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 27,714 shares of the offshore drilling services provider’s stock worth $176,000 after purchasing an additional 2,743 shares during the period. Virtu Financial LLC purchased a new position in Transocean during the 4th quarter worth $530,000. Orchard Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in Transocean during the 4th quarter worth $109,000. Penn Capital Management Company LLC increased its holdings in Transocean by 2.0% during the 4th quarter. Penn Capital Management Company LLC now owns 2,401,566 shares of the offshore drilling services provider’s stock worth $15,300,000 after purchasing an additional 46,825 shares during the period. Finally, Goehring & Rozencwajg Associates LLC increased its holdings in Transocean by 3.4% during the 4th quarter. Goehring & Rozencwajg Associates LLC now owns 633,074 shares of the offshore drilling services provider’s stock worth $4,020,000 after purchasing an additional 20,580 shares during the period. 67.73% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts have commented on RIG shares. Bank of America raised their price objective on Transocean from $5.50 to $6.00 and gave the stock an “underperform” rating in a report on Monday, April 15th. Benchmark reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $8.00 target price on shares of Transocean in a research report on Tuesday, April 30th. Susquehanna raised 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 report on Monday, April 8th. Finally, Evercore ISI dropped their target price on Transocean from $9.00 to $7.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, May 1st. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Transocean presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $7.70.

Transocean Stock Up 3.2 %

Transocean stock opened at $5.19 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.65, a current ratio of 1.35 and a quick ratio of 1.04. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.25 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -9.98 and a beta of 2.82. Transocean Ltd. has a 1-year low of $4.45 and a 1-year high of $8.88. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $5.65 and a 200-day moving average price of $5.69.

Transocean (NYSE:RIG) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Monday, April 29th. The offshore drilling services provider reported ($0.03) earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.13) by $0.10. The firm had revenue of $767.00 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $781.86 million. Transocean had a negative return on equity of 4.67% and a negative net margin of 13.27%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 18.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned ($0.38) EPS. Equities research analysts forecast that Transocean Ltd. will post -0.04 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director (Cyprus) Ltd Perestroika bought 2,000,000 shares of Transocean stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 15th. The stock was bought at an average price of $6.01 per share, for a total transaction of $12,020,000.00. Following the purchase, the director now directly owns 87,574,894 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $526,325,112.94. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. 13.16% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.