Transocean (NYSE:RIG) Hits New 52-Week Low – Should You Sell?

Shares of Transocean Ltd. (NYSE:RIG) reached a new 52-week low during trading on Monday . The stock traded as low as $3.30 and last traded at $3.32, with a volume of 1087511 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at $3.36.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have issued reports on RIG. Evercore ISI lowered shares of Transocean from an “outperform” rating to an “in-line” rating and decreased their target price for the company from $6.00 to $5.00 in a research note on Wednesday, January 15th. Benchmark reissued a “hold” rating on shares of Transocean in a research report on Tuesday, December 3rd. Barclays lowered their target price on Transocean from $4.50 to $4.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday. StockNews.com raised Transocean to a “sell” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 12th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised Transocean from an “underweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $5.00 price target for the company in a research note on Friday, December 6th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $5.75.

Transocean Stock Performance

The company has a market cap of $2.80 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -4.36, a P/E/G ratio of 0.86 and a beta of 2.70. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.60, a current ratio of 1.47 and a quick ratio of 1.34. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $3.77 and a 200 day simple moving average of $4.17.

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

Insider Transactions at Transocean

In other news, EVP Roderick James Mackenzie sold 22,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $3.85, for a total value of $84,700.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 313,072 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,205,327.20. This represents a 6.57 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 13.16% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Transocean

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in Transocean by 4.1% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 17,245,298 shares of the offshore drilling services provider’s stock worth $73,307,000 after purchasing an additional 680,242 shares during the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp increased its position 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 purchasing an additional 3,895,880 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of Transocean by 7.7% in the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 11,606,320 shares of the offshore drilling services provider’s stock valued at $49,327,000 after purchasing an additional 826,229 shares in the last quarter. State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D lifted its position in Transocean by 25.2% in the fourth quarter. State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D now owns 499,801 shares of the offshore drilling services provider’s stock worth $1,874,000 after purchasing an additional 100,691 shares during the period. Finally, Barclays PLC boosted its stake in Transocean by 60.1% during the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 1,623,924 shares of the offshore drilling services provider’s stock worth $6,902,000 after buying an additional 609,681 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 67.73% 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 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.