General American Investors Co. Inc. Buys 50,000 Shares of Transocean Ltd. (NYSE:RIG)

General American Investors Co. Inc. increased its stake in shares of Transocean Ltd. (NYSE:RIG) by 8.3% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 650,000 shares of the offshore drilling services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 50,000 shares during the quarter. General American Investors Co. Inc.’s holdings in Transocean were worth $3,478,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Arizona State Retirement System boosted its position in shares of Transocean by 3.2% during the 2nd quarter. Arizona State Retirement System now owns 206,501 shares of the offshore drilling services provider’s stock valued at $1,105,000 after acquiring an additional 6,395 shares during the last quarter. Ovata Capital Management Ltd purchased a new position in shares of Transocean in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $1,605,000. Kailix Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Transocean by 78.9% during the 2nd quarter. Kailix Advisors LLC now owns 4,139,392 shares of the offshore drilling services provider’s stock valued at $23,346,000 after purchasing an additional 1,825,044 shares during the last quarter. Rhumbline Advisers raised its holdings in Transocean by 53,530.4% during the 2nd quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 1,109,612 shares of the offshore drilling services provider’s stock valued at $5,936,000 after buying an additional 1,107,543 shares during the period. Finally, Lisanti Capital Growth LLC lifted its position in Transocean by 12.9% in the second quarter. Lisanti Capital Growth LLC now owns 805,520 shares of the offshore drilling services provider’s stock worth $4,310,000 after buying an additional 92,130 shares during the last quarter. 67.73% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other Transocean news, Director (Cyprus) Ltd Perestroika purchased 2,000,000 shares of Transocean stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 2nd. The stock was acquired at an average price of $5.23 per share, for a total transaction of $10,460,000.00. Following the acquisition, the director now owns 89,574,894 shares in the company, valued at approximately $468,476,695.62. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Insiders own 13.16% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. DNB Markets raised shares of Transocean from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday. StockNews.com raised shares of Transocean to a “sell” rating in a research report on Monday, August 5th. Finally, Benchmark restated a “buy” rating and set a $8.00 target price on shares of Transocean in a research report on Friday, August 2nd. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $7.25.

Transocean Price Performance

Transocean stock opened at $4.13 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $3.62 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -7.94 and a beta of 2.80. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $5.12 and a two-hundred day moving average of $5.48. Transocean Ltd. has a 1 year low of $4.07 and a 1 year high of $8.88. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.63, a current ratio of 1.36 and a quick ratio of 1.08.

Transocean (NYSE:RIG) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 31st. The offshore drilling services provider reported ($0.15) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.08) by ($0.07). Transocean had a negative return on equity of 4.76% and a negative net margin of 11.34%. The firm had revenue of $861.00 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $862.25 million. During the same period last year, the company earned ($0.15) EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 18.1% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts forecast that Transocean Ltd. will post -0.19 earnings per share for the current year.

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.