Transocean Ltd. (NYSE:RIG) Stock Holdings Lifted by Van ECK Associates Corp

Van ECK Associates Corp grew its position in Transocean Ltd. (NYSE:RIG) by 11.3% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 15,908,217 shares of the offshore drilling services provider’s stock after buying an additional 1,616,690 shares during the quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp owned approximately 1.97% of Transocean worth $101,017,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Private Trust Co. NA increased its position in Transocean by 1,489.8% in the 4th quarter. Private Trust Co. NA now owns 8,537 shares of the offshore drilling services provider’s stock worth $54,000 after purchasing an additional 8,000 shares during the last quarter. Csenge Advisory Group bought a new position in shares of Transocean during the 3rd quarter worth about $83,000. Southern Capital Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Transocean during the fourth quarter valued at about $83,000. Joseph P. Lucia & Associates LLC bought a new stake in shares of Transocean in the third quarter valued at about $87,000. Finally, Vicus Capital bought a new position in Transocean during the fourth quarter valued at about $88,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 67.73% of the company’s stock.

Transocean Price Performance

NYSE:RIG traded down $0.53 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, reaching $5.29. 21,835,967 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 17,849,373. Transocean Ltd. has a 12 month low of $4.45 and a 12 month high of $8.88. The stock has a market cap of $4.34 billion, a PE ratio of -4.15 and a beta of 2.77. The company has a quick ratio of 1.22, a current ratio of 1.52 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.68. The company has a fifty day moving average of $5.73 and a 200 day moving average of $5.98.

Transocean (NYSE:RIG) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, April 29th. The offshore drilling services provider reported ($0.03) EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.13) by $0.10. Transocean had a negative net margin of 33.69% and a negative return on equity of 7.13%. The business had revenue of $767.00 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $781.86 million. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned ($0.38) earnings per share. Transocean’s revenue was up 18.2% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts anticipate that Transocean Ltd. will post 0.05 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have commented on RIG. Bank of America raised their price objective on Transocean from $5.50 to $6.00 and gave the stock an “underperform” rating in a research report on Monday, April 15th. Barclays decreased their price objective on Transocean from $7.00 to $6.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, February 22nd. Morgan Stanley lowered their price target on Transocean from $8.00 to $7.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, February 26th. Susquehanna raised Transocean from a “neutral” rating to a “positive” rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $5.50 to $9.00 in a report on Monday, April 8th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded shares of Transocean to a “sell” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 20th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Transocean currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $7.78.

Transocean 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.