Transocean (NYSE:RIG) Shares Gap Up – Still a Buy?

Transocean Ltd. (NYSE:RIG) shares gapped up before the market opened on Friday . The stock had previously closed at $2.77, but opened at $2.86. Transocean shares last traded at $2.98, with a volume of 1,866,628 shares changing hands.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts recently commented on the company. Evercore ISI lowered Transocean from an “outperform” rating to an “in-line” rating and decreased their price objective for the company from $6.00 to $5.00 in a research note on Wednesday, January 15th. TD Cowen decreased their price objective on Transocean from $6.50 to $5.50 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, January 8th. StockNews.com raised Transocean to a “sell” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 12th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised Transocean from an “underweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $5.00 price objective on the stock in a research note on Friday, December 6th. Finally, Barclays decreased their price objective on Transocean from $4.50 to $4.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, February 25th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Transocean presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $5.75.

Transocean Stock Up 9.9 %

The business has a 50-day moving average price of $3.66 and a 200-day moving average price of $4.05. The company has a market capitalization of $2.68 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -4.17, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.86 and a beta of 2.72. The company has a quick ratio of 1.34, a current ratio of 1.47 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.60.

Transocean (NYSE:RIG) last announced 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 for 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, equities analysts anticipate that Transocean Ltd. will post 0.14 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Transocean

In other news, EVP Roderick James Mackenzie sold 22,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $3.85, for a total transaction of $84,700.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 313,072 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,205,327.20. This represents a 6.57 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 13.16% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Transocean

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. raised its holdings in 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 valued at $107,000 after acquiring an additional 2,469 shares in the last quarter. Optiver Holding B.V. raised its holdings 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 valued at $32,000 after acquiring an additional 2,933 shares in the last quarter. Ballentine Partners LLC raised its holdings in Transocean by 19.4% in the 4th quarter. Ballentine Partners LLC now owns 18,247 shares of the offshore drilling services provider’s stock valued at $68,000 after acquiring an additional 2,963 shares in the last quarter. Van Den Berg Management I Inc. raised its holdings in Transocean by 11.9% in the 4th 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 acquiring an additional 3,000 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Pallas Capital Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Transocean by 25.6% in the 4th quarter. Pallas Capital Advisors LLC now owns 15,332 shares of the offshore drilling services provider’s stock valued at $57,000 after acquiring an additional 3,127 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 67.73% of the company’s stock.

About Transocean

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.