Cohen & Steers Inc. Trims Stock Position in Seadrill Limited (NYSE:SDRL)

Cohen & Steers Inc. cut its stake in shares of Seadrill Limited (NYSE:SDRL - Free Report) by 66.9% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 24,828 shares of the oil and gas company's stock after selling 50,207 shares during the period. Cohen & Steers Inc.'s holdings in Seadrill were worth $967,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Summit Investment Advisors Inc. lifted its holdings in Seadrill by 4.7% in the 4th quarter. Summit Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 7,268 shares of the oil and gas company's stock worth $283,000 after purchasing an additional 325 shares in the last quarter. Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. bought a new position in shares of Seadrill during the 4th quarter valued at about $4,458,000. Sterling Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of Seadrill by 756.3% during the fourth quarter. Sterling Capital Management LLC now owns 1,567 shares of the oil and gas company's stock valued at $61,000 after purchasing an additional 1,384 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. increased its holdings in shares of Seadrill by 12.6% in the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 53,847 shares of the oil and gas company's stock worth $2,096,000 after purchasing an additional 6,015 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Russell Investments Group Ltd. raised its holdings in shares of Seadrill by 37.7% during the 4th quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 26,813 shares of the oil and gas company's stock worth $1,044,000 after acquiring an additional 7,340 shares in the last quarter. 95.67% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on SDRL. Citigroup reduced their target price on shares of Seadrill from $46.00 to $35.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, March 19th. BWS Financial reaffirmed a "buy" rating and issued a $80.00 price objective on shares of Seadrill in a research note on Monday, March 3rd. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating, Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Buy" and an average target price of $62.00.

Seadrill Stock Up 8.0 %

Seadrill stock traded up $1.56 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $20.93. The company's stock had a trading volume of 1,187,581 shares, compared to its average volume of 946,815. Seadrill Limited has a 52-week low of $17.74 and a 52-week high of $56.46. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.30 billion, a P/E ratio of 3.65 and a beta of 1.41. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21, a current ratio of 2.53 and a quick ratio of 2.53. The stock's 50-day simple moving average is $24.62 and its 200-day simple moving average is $33.50.

Seadrill (NYSE:SDRL - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, February 26th. The oil and gas company reported $1.07 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.34) by $1.41. The firm had revenue of $289.00 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $299.50 million. Seadrill had a return on equity of 7.24% and a net margin of 27.79%. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Seadrill Limited will post 1.86 EPS for the current year.

About Seadrill

Seadrill Ltd. engages in the provision of offshore drilling services to the oil and gas industry. It operates through the following segments: Floaters, Jack-up rigs, and Other. The Floaters segment encompasses drilling, completion, and maintenance of offshore exploration and production wells. the Jack-up Rigs segment includes drilling contracts relate to jack-up rigs for operations in harsh and benign environments in shallow water.