Transocean Ltd. (NYSE:RIG) Shares Sold by Primecap Management Co. CA

Primecap Management Co. CA reduced its stake in Transocean Ltd. (NYSE:RIG) by 2.7% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 54,816,411 shares of the offshore drilling services provider’s stock after selling 1,525,758 shares during the period. Primecap Management Co. CA owned 6.26% of Transocean worth $205,562,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. State Street Corp boosted its stake in Transocean by 11.0% in 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 acquiring an additional 1,944,723 shares during the period. Pilgrim Global Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Transocean in the third quarter valued at approximately $77,473,000. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Transocean by 4.1% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 17,245,298 shares of the offshore drilling services provider’s stock valued at $73,307,000 after buying an additional 680,242 shares during the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp raised its holdings in shares of Transocean by 33.9% during the fourth quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 15,393,873 shares of the offshore drilling services provider’s stock valued at $57,727,000 after buying an additional 3,895,880 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Transocean by 7.4% during the fourth 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 buying an additional 859,214 shares during the last quarter. 67.73% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Transocean Trading Up 4.1 %

Transocean stock opened at $3.17 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.60, a quick ratio of 1.34 and a current ratio of 1.47. The firm has a market cap of $2.78 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -4.34, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.86 and a beta of 2.72. Transocean Ltd. has a 1 year low of $2.55 and a 1 year high of $6.88. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $3.56 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $3.97.

Transocean (NYSE:RIG) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Monday, February 17th. The offshore drilling services provider reported ($0.09) earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.02 by ($0.11). Transocean had a negative return on equity of 0.52% and a negative net margin of 14.53%. The firm had revenue of $952.00 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $962.28 million. On average, research analysts predict that Transocean Ltd. will post 0.14 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, EVP Roderick James Mackenzie sold 22,000 shares of the business’s 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 transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 313,072 shares in the company, valued at $1,205,327.20. The trade was a 6.57 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Corporate insiders own 13.16% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

RIG has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised Transocean from an “underweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $5.00 price target on the stock in a report on Friday, December 6th. Evercore ISI cut Transocean from an “outperform” rating to an “in-line” rating and cut their price target for the company from $6.00 to $5.00 in a report on Wednesday, January 15th. Barclays cut their price target on Transocean from $4.50 to $4.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, February 25th. SEB Equity Research set a $2.80 target price on Transocean in a report on Wednesday, March 5th. Finally, Benchmark reissued a “hold” rating on shares of Transocean in a report on Tuesday, December 3rd. Two equities 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 company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Transocean presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $5.42.

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.