Transocean (NYSE:RIG) Shares Up 1% – Time to Buy?

Transocean Ltd. (NYSE:RIG)’s stock price was up 1% during trading on Wednesday . The stock traded as high as $4.12 and last traded at $4.11. Approximately 4,879,532 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 80% from the average daily volume of 23,835,787 shares. The stock had previously closed at $4.07.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have weighed in on RIG. Barclays upgraded Transocean from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $4.50 price objective for the company in a research note on Wednesday, December 18th. Evercore ISI lowered shares of Transocean from an “outperform” rating to an “in-line” rating and dropped their price target for the stock from $6.00 to $5.00 in a research note on Wednesday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded shares of Transocean from an “underweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $5.00 price objective on the stock in a research note on Friday, December 6th. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on shares of Transocean from $5.00 to $6.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 3rd. Finally, StockNews.com raised shares of Transocean to a “sell” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 12th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $5.94.

Transocean Stock Performance

The company has a quick ratio of 1.34, a current ratio of 1.64 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $4.04 and a 200 day simple moving average of $4.50. The company has a market capitalization of $3.55 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -5.41, a P/E/G ratio of 0.67 and a beta of 2.73.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, EVP Roderick James Mackenzie sold 22,000 shares of Transocean stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $4.05, for a total value of $89,100.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 229,596 shares in the company, valued at $929,863.80. This trade represents a 8.74 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. 12.54% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Transocean

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Primecap Management Co. CA boosted its position in shares of Transocean by 0.4% during the third quarter. Primecap Management Co. CA now owns 56,342,169 shares of the offshore drilling services provider’s stock worth $239,454,000 after buying an additional 222,680 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its position in Transocean by 19.0% during the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 36,725,995 shares of the offshore drilling services provider’s stock worth $196,484,000 after acquiring an additional 5,856,414 shares during the period. State Street Corp grew its stake in shares of 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 worth $83,275,000 after purchasing an additional 1,944,723 shares in the last quarter. Pilgrim Global Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Transocean during the third quarter valued at $77,473,000. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC increased 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 purchasing an additional 680,242 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.