Capital World Investors Trims Stake in Transocean Ltd. (NYSE:RIG)

Capital World Investors decreased its stake in shares of Transocean Ltd. (NYSE:RIG - Free Report) by 16.7% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 40,222,614 shares of the offshore drilling services provider's stock after selling 8,038,055 shares during the period. Capital World Investors owned 4.59% of Transocean worth $150,835,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Ballentine Partners LLC increased its position in shares of Transocean by 19.4% during the fourth quarter. Ballentine Partners LLC now owns 18,247 shares of the offshore drilling services provider's stock worth $68,000 after acquiring an additional 2,963 shares during the last quarter. Pallas Capital Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Transocean by 25.6% during the 4th quarter. Pallas Capital Advisors LLC now owns 15,332 shares of the offshore drilling services provider's stock worth $57,000 after purchasing an additional 3,127 shares during the last quarter. Avantax Advisory Services Inc. raised its position in shares of Transocean by 4.2% in the 4th quarter. Avantax Advisory Services Inc. now owns 107,012 shares of the offshore drilling services provider's stock valued at $401,000 after purchasing an additional 4,285 shares in the last quarter. Blue Trust Inc. grew its position in shares of Transocean by 96.2% during the fourth quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 9,841 shares of the offshore drilling services provider's stock worth $37,000 after buying an additional 4,826 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Southern Capital Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Transocean by 27.8% in the fourth quarter. Southern Capital Advisors LLC now owns 23,001 shares of the offshore drilling services provider's stock worth $86,000 after buying an additional 5,000 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 67.73% of the company's stock.

Insider Transactions at Transocean

In other news, EVP Roderick James Mackenzie sold 22,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, April 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $2.23, for a total value of $49,060.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 362,841 shares in the company, valued at $809,135.43. This trade represents a 5.72 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Insiders own 13.16% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Evercore ISI lowered shares of Transocean from an "outperform" rating to an "in-line" rating and dropped their price objective for the stock from $6.00 to $5.00 in a research note on Wednesday, January 15th. Morgan Stanley lowered their price objective on Transocean from $5.00 to $4.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, March 27th. SEB Equity Research set a $2.80 price target on shares of Transocean in a report on Wednesday, March 5th. Citigroup dropped their price objective on shares of Transocean from $4.50 to $3.50 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, March 19th. Finally, TD Cowen decreased their target price on shares of Transocean from $6.50 to $5.50 and set a "hold" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, January 8th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $4.59.

Transocean Price Performance

NYSE:RIG traded up $0.04 on Friday, hitting $2.33. The company had a trading volume of 25,342,050 shares, compared to its average volume of 35,917,008. Transocean Ltd. has a 52 week low of $1.97 and a 52 week high of $6.38. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.06 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -3.19, a PEG ratio of 0.86 and a beta of 2.29. The company has a current ratio of 1.47, a quick ratio of 1.34 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.60. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $2.81 and a two-hundred day moving average of $3.61.

Transocean (NYSE:RIG - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Monday, February 17th. The offshore drilling services provider reported ($0.09) earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.02 by ($0.11). The firm had revenue of $952.00 million for 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, research analysts anticipate that Transocean Ltd. will post 0.14 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.