Vontobel Holding Ltd. Increases Holdings in Transocean Ltd. (NYSE:RIG)

Vontobel Holding Ltd. increased its position in Transocean Ltd. (NYSE:RIG) by 22.2% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 165,079 shares of the offshore drilling services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 30,008 shares during the quarter. Vontobel Holding Ltd.’s holdings in Transocean were worth $619,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Pilgrim Global Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Transocean in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $77,473,000. Van ECK Associates Corp increased its stake in shares of Transocean by 33.9% during the fourth quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 15,393,873 shares of the offshore drilling services provider’s stock valued at $57,727,000 after buying an additional 3,895,880 shares during the period. Kailix Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Transocean by 59.9% during the third quarter. Kailix Advisors LLC now owns 6,620,451 shares of the offshore drilling services provider’s stock valued at $28,137,000 after purchasing an additional 2,481,059 shares in the last quarter. Point72 Europe London LLP bought a new stake in shares of Transocean during the third quarter valued at approximately $8,935,000. Finally, State Street Corp boosted its holdings in Transocean by 11.0% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 19,594,121 shares of the offshore drilling services provider’s stock worth $83,275,000 after acquiring an additional 1,944,723 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 67.73% of the company’s stock.

Transocean Price Performance

Shares of Transocean stock opened at $3.45 on Thursday. Transocean Ltd. has a 12 month low of $3.38 and a 12 month high of $6.88. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $3.80 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $4.23. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.02 billion, a P/E ratio of -4.59, a PEG ratio of 0.85 and a beta of 2.70. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64, a current ratio of 1.64 and a quick ratio of 1.34.

Transocean (NYSE:RIG) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Monday, February 17th. The offshore drilling services provider reported ($0.09) earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.02 by ($0.11). Transocean had a negative net margin of 18.81% and a negative return on equity of 1.48%. The business had revenue of $952.00 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $962.28 million. As a group, analysts predict that Transocean Ltd. will post -0.13 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Benchmark reaffirmed a “hold” rating on shares of Transocean in a report on Tuesday, December 3rd. StockNews.com upgraded Transocean to a “sell” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 12th. Barclays upgraded Transocean from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $4.50 price target for the company in a research report on Wednesday, December 18th. Evercore ISI cut Transocean from an “outperform” rating to an “in-line” rating and reduced their price target for the stock from $6.00 to $5.00 in a research report on Wednesday, January 15th. Finally, TD Cowen decreased their target price on Transocean from $6.50 to $5.50 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, January 8th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $5.94.

Transocean 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.