HighTower Advisors LLC Boosts Holdings in Transocean Ltd. $RIG

HighTower Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Transocean Ltd. (NYSE:RIG) by 2,662.3% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,562,314 shares of the offshore drilling services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,505,755 shares during the period. HighTower Advisors LLC’s holdings in Transocean were worth $4,874,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also modified their holdings of RIG. Trek Financial LLC purchased a new stake in Transocean in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $5,162,000. Cibc World Market Inc. increased its position in Transocean by 23.9% during the third quarter. Cibc World Market Inc. now owns 4,882,994 shares of the offshore drilling services provider’s stock worth $15,235,000 after buying an additional 941,537 shares in the last quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp acquired a new position in shares of Transocean in the third quarter worth $1,708,000. Quantbot Technologies LP lifted its position in shares of Transocean by 382.4% in the second quarter. Quantbot Technologies LP now owns 1,046,818 shares of the offshore drilling services provider’s stock valued at $2,711,000 after acquiring an additional 829,802 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Creative Planning boosted its stake in shares of Transocean by 89.6% during the second quarter. Creative Planning now owns 1,072,043 shares of the offshore drilling services provider’s stock valued at $2,777,000 after acquiring an additional 506,624 shares during the last quarter. 67.73% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages recently weighed in on RIG. Fearnley Fonds downgraded shares of Transocean from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 10th. Barclays downgraded shares of Transocean from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and lifted their price target for the stock from $4.50 to $6.00 in a report on Wednesday, February 18th. Susquehanna upped their price objective on shares of Transocean from $6.50 to $7.50 and gave the company a “positive” rating in a research note on Monday. BTIG Research lifted their target price on shares of Transocean from $6.00 to $10.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, February 9th. Finally, Pareto Securities downgraded Transocean from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating and set a $5.25 price target for the company. in a report on Tuesday, February 10th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have given a Hold rating and three have given a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Reduce” and a consensus target price of $5.86.

Transocean Price Performance

RIG opened at $6.53 on Wednesday. Transocean Ltd. has a 1 year low of $1.97 and a 1 year high of $6.96. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $4.85 and its 200 day simple moving average is $4.02. The stock has a market capitalization of $7.19 billion, a PE ratio of -2.07 and a beta of 1.46. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64, a quick ratio of 1.27 and a current ratio of 1.56.

Transocean (NYSE:RIG) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 19th. The offshore drilling services provider reported $0.02 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.09 by ($0.07). The company had revenue of $1.04 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.03 billion. Transocean had a positive return on equity of 0.41% and a negative net margin of 73.52%.The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company posted ($0.09) EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Transocean Ltd. will post 0.14 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Transocean

In related news, EVP Roderick James Mackenzie sold 35,000 shares of Transocean stock in a transaction on Wednesday, December 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $4.48, for a total value of $156,800.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president owned 212,072 shares in the company, valued at approximately $950,082.56. This trade represents a 14.17% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Keelan Adamson sold 58,687 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $5.00, for a total value of $293,435.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 1,222,182 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,110,910. This trade represents a 4.58% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold a total of 182,970 shares of company stock worth $863,432 over the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 12.54% of the company’s stock.

Transocean Profile

Transocean Ltd. is a leading international provider of offshore contract drilling services for the oil and gas industry. The company specializes in the operation of mobile drilling units, including ultra-deepwater drillships, semisubmersible rigs and high-specification jackup rigs. Transocean’s fleet is designed to meet complex drilling requirements, from ultra-deepwater well construction to shelf exploration and development projects.

The company’s core services encompass the full spectrum of offshore drilling operations, including project and engineering management, marine operations, drilling supervision, and maintenance support.