Principal Financial Group Inc. Sells 10,705 Shares of Transocean Ltd. (NYSE:RIG)

Principal Financial Group Inc. lowered its stake in shares of Transocean Ltd. (NYSE:RIG) by 21.0% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 40,302 shares of the offshore drilling services provider’s stock after selling 10,705 shares during the quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc.’s holdings in Transocean were worth $151,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Primecap Management Co. CA boosted its position in Transocean by 0.4% during the third quarter. Primecap Management Co. CA now owns 56,342,169 shares of the offshore drilling services provider’s stock valued at $239,454,000 after purchasing an additional 222,680 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp boosted its position in Transocean by 11.0% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 19,594,121 shares of the offshore drilling services provider’s stock valued at $83,275,000 after purchasing an additional 1,944,723 shares in the last quarter. Pilgrim Global Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Transocean during the third quarter valued at about $77,473,000. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in Transocean by 4.1% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 17,245,298 shares of the offshore drilling services provider’s stock worth $73,307,000 after acquiring an additional 680,242 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Van ECK Associates Corp boosted its holdings in Transocean by 33.9% in the fourth quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 15,393,873 shares of the offshore drilling services provider’s stock worth $57,727,000 after acquiring an additional 3,895,880 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 67.73% of the company’s stock.

Transocean Stock Up 9.9 %

Shares of RIG stock opened at $3.05 on Friday. Transocean Ltd. has a twelve month low of $2.55 and a twelve month high of $6.88. The stock has a market cap of $2.68 billion, a P/E ratio of -4.17, a P/E/G ratio of 0.86 and a beta of 2.72. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $3.66 and a 200 day moving average of $4.05. The company has a current ratio of 1.47, a quick ratio of 1.34 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.60.

Transocean (NYSE:RIG) last announced its quarterly 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). Transocean had a negative net margin of 14.53% and a negative return on equity of 0.52%. The company had revenue of $952.00 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $962.28 million. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Transocean Ltd. will post 0.14 EPS for the current year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have weighed in on RIG. Evercore ISI downgraded 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. StockNews.com raised Transocean to a “sell” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 12th. TD Cowen lowered their price target on Transocean from $6.50 to $5.50 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, January 8th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised Transocean from an “underweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $5.00 price target for the company in a report on Friday, December 6th. Finally, Barclays lowered their price target on Transocean from $4.50 to $4.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, February 25th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Transocean currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $5.75.

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 that occurred on Friday, January 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $4.05, for a total transaction of $89,100.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 229,596 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $929,863.80. This represents a 8.74 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. 13.16% of the stock is currently owned by corporate 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.