Benchmark Reaffirms Buy Rating for Transocean (NYSE:RIG)

Benchmark reiterated their buy rating on shares of Transocean (NYSE:RIG) in a research note published on Friday morning, Benzinga reports. Benchmark currently has a $12.00 price objective on the offshore drilling services provider’s stock.

RIG has been the topic of a number of other reports. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Transocean to a sell rating in a research report on Friday, June 16th. Citigroup lifted their price objective on shares of Transocean from $9.50 to $10.50 and gave the company a buy rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 12th. BTIG Research lifted their price objective on shares of Transocean from $10.00 to $12.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a research report on Friday, July 28th. Susquehanna lifted their price objective on shares of Transocean from $7.50 to $9.00 and gave the company a neutral rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 2nd. Finally, Barclays lifted their price objective on shares of Transocean from $6.00 to $7.00 and gave the company an equal weight rating in a research report on Monday, August 7th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Transocean has an average rating of Hold and an average price target of $8.38.

Transocean Stock Performance

NYSE:RIG opened at $8.30 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $6.36 billion, a PE ratio of -6.01 and a beta of 2.99. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $8.23 and its 200 day moving average price is $6.99. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.69, a current ratio of 1.96 and a quick ratio of 1.61. Transocean has a 12 month low of $2.33 and a 12 month high of $8.88.

Transocean (NYSE:RIG) last posted its earnings results on Monday, July 31st. The offshore drilling services provider reported ($0.22) earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.12) by ($0.10). The firm had revenue of $729.00 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $732.58 million. Transocean had a negative net margin of 37.68% and a negative return on equity of 7.32%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted ($0.10) earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Transocean will post -0.71 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Transocean

In other Transocean news, CAO David A. Tonnel sold 57,259 shares of Transocean stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $8.22, for a total value of $470,668.98. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 417,789 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,434,225.58. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. In other Transocean news, CAO David A. Tonnel sold 57,259 shares of Transocean stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $8.22, for a total value of $470,668.98. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 417,789 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,434,225.58. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CFO Mark-Anthony Lovell Mey sold 396,170 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $8.50, for a total value of $3,367,445.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 984,317 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,366,694.50. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 455,183 shares of company stock valued at $3,853,479. 13.16% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Transocean

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of RIG. Murphy Pohlad Asset Management LLC raised its position in shares of Transocean by 1.6% during the 1st quarter. Murphy Pohlad Asset Management LLC now owns 100,550 shares of the offshore drilling services provider’s stock valued at $639,000 after acquiring an additional 1,550 shares in the last quarter. Moors & Cabot Inc. raised its position in shares of Transocean by 5.8% during the 1st quarter. Moors & Cabot Inc. now owns 32,525 shares of the offshore drilling services provider’s stock valued at $207,000 after acquiring an additional 1,775 shares in the last quarter. US Bancorp DE raised its position in shares of Transocean by 31.0% during the 1st quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 7,545 shares of the offshore drilling services provider’s stock valued at $48,000 after acquiring an additional 1,784 shares in the last quarter. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. raised its position in shares of Transocean by 2.3% during the 2nd quarter. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. now owns 79,464 shares of the offshore drilling services provider’s stock valued at $557,000 after acquiring an additional 1,818 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Southern Capital Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Transocean by 10.3% during the 1st quarter. Southern Capital Advisors LLC now owns 21,500 shares of the offshore drilling services provider’s stock valued at $137,000 after acquiring an additional 2,000 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 66.70% of the company’s stock.

About Transocean

Transocean Ltd., together with its subsidiaries, provides offshore contract drilling services for oil and gas wells worldwide. It contracts its mobile offshore drilling rigs, related equipment, and work crews to drill oil and gas wells. It serves integrated energy companies, government-owned or government-controlled energy companies, and other independent energy companies.