Transocean (NYSE:RIG) Shares Down 3.2% Following Analyst Downgrade

Shares of Transocean Ltd. (NYSE:RIG) traded down 3.2% on Tuesday after Barclays lowered their price target on the stock from $4.00 to $3.50. Barclays currently has an overweight rating on the stock. Transocean traded as low as $2.30 and last traded at $2.30. 7,766,775 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 66% from the average session volume of 22,963,192 shares. The stock had previously closed at $2.37.

RIG has been the subject of several other research reports. Evercore ISI downgraded Transocean from an “outperform” rating to an “in-line” rating and lowered their target price for the stock from $6.00 to $5.00 in a research note on Wednesday, January 15th. SEB Equity Research set a $2.80 price objective on shares of Transocean in a research report on Wednesday, March 5th. TD Cowen reduced their price objective on Transocean from $6.50 to $5.50 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, January 8th. Citigroup lowered their target price on Transocean from $4.50 to $3.50 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, March 19th. Finally, Morgan Stanley cut 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. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $4.98.

Insider Transactions at Transocean

In related news, EVP Roderick James Mackenzie sold 22,000 shares of Transocean stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $3.85, for a total transaction of $84,700.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 313,072 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,205,327.20. This trade represents a 6.57 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 13.16% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Transocean

A number of large investors have recently bought and sold shares of RIG. American Century Companies Inc. boosted its position in shares of Transocean by 51.5% during the 4th quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 19,257,437 shares of the offshore drilling services provider’s stock valued at $72,215,000 after purchasing an additional 6,542,271 shares in the last quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC acquired a new position in Transocean in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $16,608,000. SIR Capital Management L.P. bought a new position in shares of Transocean during the 4th quarter worth approximately $14,976,000. 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. Finally, Madison Investment Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Transocean in the 4th quarter valued at $11,156,000. 67.73% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Transocean Stock Down 7.8 %

The company has a market cap of $1.93 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -2.99, a P/E/G ratio of 0.86 and a beta of 2.29. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $3.20 and its 200-day moving average is $3.80. 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 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 net margin of 14.53% and a negative return on equity of 0.52%. The firm had revenue of $952.00 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $962.28 million. On average, analysts anticipate that Transocean Ltd. will post 0.14 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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.