MQS Management LLC Has $162,000 Stake in Transocean Ltd. (NYSE:RIG)

MQS Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Transocean Ltd. (NYSE:RIG) by 53.4% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 25,739 shares of the offshore drilling services provider’s stock after buying an additional 8,960 shares during the quarter. MQS Management LLC’s holdings in Transocean were worth $162,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in Transocean by 0.6% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 68,982,142 shares of the offshore drilling services provider’s stock valued at $433,208,000 after purchasing an additional 429,950 shares during the period. Primecap Management Co. CA grew its position in Transocean by 11.4% in the 4th quarter. Primecap Management Co. CA now owns 50,699,389 shares of the offshore drilling services provider’s stock valued at $321,941,000 after purchasing an additional 5,168,000 shares during the period. Capital World Investors grew its position in Transocean by 34.7% in the 4th quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 39,014,318 shares of the offshore drilling services provider’s stock valued at $247,741,000 after purchasing an additional 10,049,077 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its position in Transocean by 23.2% in the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 35,690,620 shares of the offshore drilling services provider’s stock valued at $226,641,000 after purchasing an additional 6,719,483 shares during the period. Finally, Van ECK Associates Corp grew its position in Transocean by 7.0% in the 1st quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 17,013,964 shares of the offshore drilling services provider’s stock valued at $106,848,000 after purchasing an additional 1,105,747 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 67.73% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

RIG has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Evercore ISI cut their price objective on shares of Transocean from $9.00 to $7.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, May 1st. Bank of America lifted their price objective on shares of Transocean from $5.50 to $6.00 and gave the stock an “underperform” rating in a report on Monday, April 15th. Benchmark reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $8.00 price objective on shares of Transocean in a report on Thursday. Finally, Susquehanna raised shares of Transocean from a “neutral” rating to a “positive” rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $5.50 to $9.00 in a report on Monday, April 8th. Two equities research analysts have 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 MarketBeat.com, Transocean has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $7.70.

Insider Buying and Selling at Transocean

In related news, Director (Cyprus) Ltd Perestroika acquired 2,000,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 15th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $6.01 per share, with a total value of $12,020,000.00. Following the acquisition, the director now owns 87,574,894 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $526,325,112.94. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Insiders own 13.16% of the company’s stock.

Transocean Stock Performance

Transocean stock traded up $0.56 during midday trading on Thursday, reaching $5.82. The stock had a trading volume of 36,466,062 shares, compared to its average volume of 17,930,725. The company has a quick ratio of 1.04, a current ratio of 1.35 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.65. The firm has a market capitalization of $5.47 billion, a PE ratio of -11.18 and a beta of 2.85. Transocean Ltd. has a 12 month low of $4.45 and a 12 month high of $8.88. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $5.47 and its 200 day moving average price is $5.56.

Transocean (NYSE:RIG) last announced 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 13.27% and a negative return on equity of 4.67%. The firm had revenue of $767.00 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $781.86 million. During the same period last year, the firm earned ($0.38) EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 18.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts predict that Transocean Ltd. will post -0.04 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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.