Commonwealth Equity Services LLC Sells 56,284 Shares of Transocean Ltd. (NYSE:RIG)

Commonwealth Equity Services LLC decreased its position in shares of Transocean Ltd. (NYSE:RIG) by 26.1% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 159,653 shares of the offshore drilling services provider’s stock after selling 56,284 shares during the quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC’s holdings in Transocean were worth $599,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of RIG. State Street Corp grew its stake 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 worth $83,275,000 after purchasing an additional 1,944,723 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of Transocean by 4.1% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 17,245,298 shares of the offshore drilling services provider’s stock worth $73,307,000 after buying an additional 680,242 shares during the period. Van ECK Associates Corp grew its position in shares of Transocean by 33.9% during the 4th quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 15,393,873 shares of the offshore drilling services provider’s stock worth $57,727,000 after buying an additional 3,895,880 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of Transocean by 7.4% during the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 12,465,534 shares of the offshore drilling services provider’s stock valued at $46,746,000 after acquiring an additional 859,214 shares during the period. Finally, Keybank National Association OH boosted its stake in Transocean by 0.4% during the fourth quarter. Keybank National Association OH now owns 11,807,393 shares of the offshore drilling services provider’s stock worth $44,278,000 after acquiring an additional 43,155 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 67.73% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have weighed in on RIG shares. Barclays decreased their price target on shares of Transocean from $4.50 to $4.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, February 25th. SEB Equity Research set a $2.80 target price on Transocean in a research report on Wednesday, March 5th. Morgan Stanley dropped their price target on Transocean from $5.00 to $4.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, March 27th. TD Cowen reduced their price objective on Transocean from $6.50 to $5.50 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, January 8th. Finally, Citigroup lowered their target price on Transocean from $4.50 to $3.50 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, March 19th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Transocean presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $5.03.

Transocean Stock Down 21.1 %

Shares of NYSE:RIG opened at $2.15 on Friday. The business’s 50 day moving average is $3.30 and its 200 day moving average is $3.86. Transocean Ltd. has a 12-month low of $2.11 and a 12-month high of $6.88. The stock has a market cap of $1.89 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -2.94, a PEG 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 posted its quarterly earnings data 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 firm had revenue of $952.00 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $962.28 million. Transocean had a negative return on equity of 0.52% and a negative net margin of 14.53%. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Transocean Ltd. will post 0.14 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, EVP Roderick James Mackenzie sold 22,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction 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 completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 313,072 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,205,327.20. This trade represents a 6.57 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. 12.54% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.