Morgan Stanley Has Lowered Expectations for Transocean (NYSE:RIG) Stock Price

Transocean (NYSE:RIG) had its price objective dropped by research analysts at Morgan Stanley from $5.00 to $4.00 in a research note issued to investors on Thursday,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has an “equal weight” rating on the offshore drilling services provider’s stock. Morgan Stanley’s price objective points to a potential upside of 25.20% from the company’s current price.

RIG has been the topic of a number of other reports. SEB Equity Research set a $2.80 price target on shares of Transocean in a research report on Wednesday, March 5th. TD Cowen decreased their target price on Transocean from $6.50 to $5.50 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, January 8th. Citigroup dropped their price target on Transocean from $4.50 to $3.50 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, March 19th. Barclays reduced their price objective on Transocean from $4.50 to $4.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, February 25th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised Transocean from an “underweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $5.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Friday, December 6th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $5.03.

Transocean Stock Performance

Shares of RIG stock opened at $3.20 on Thursday. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.82 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -4.38, a PEG ratio of 0.86 and a beta of 2.72. Transocean has a one year low of $2.55 and a one year high of $6.88. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $3.40 and its 200-day simple moving average is $3.90. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.60, a quick ratio of 1.34 and a current ratio of 1.47.

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, EVP Roderick James Mackenzie sold 22,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction 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 completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 313,072 shares in the company, valued at $1,205,327.20. This represents a 6.57 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. 13.16% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Transocean

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of RIG. Twin Tree Management LP bought a new stake in shares of Transocean in the 4th quarter worth approximately $27,000. Optiver Holding B.V. increased its holdings in shares of Transocean by 53.6% in the fourth quarter. Optiver Holding B.V. now owns 8,400 shares of the offshore drilling services provider’s stock valued at $32,000 after buying an additional 2,933 shares in the last quarter. Blue Trust Inc. lifted its position in shares of Transocean by 96.2% during the 4th quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 9,841 shares of the offshore drilling services provider’s stock valued at $37,000 after acquiring an additional 4,826 shares during the last quarter. Adero Partners LLC bought a new stake in shares of Transocean during the 4th quarter worth $38,000. Finally, Stratos Wealth Partners LTD. acquired a new stake in shares of Transocean during the fourth quarter worth $40,000. 67.73% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.