Benchmark Reiterates Buy Rating for Transocean (NYSE:RIG)

Transocean (NYSE:RIG)‘s stock had its “buy” rating reaffirmed by equities research analysts at Benchmark in a research report issued on Tuesday, Benzinga reports. They presently have a $8.00 target price on the offshore drilling services provider’s stock. Benchmark’s price target would suggest a potential upside of 51.95% from the stock’s current price.

Several other research firms have also recently weighed in on RIG. Morgan Stanley dropped their price objective on shares of Transocean from $8.00 to $7.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, February 26th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Transocean to a “sell” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 20th. Citigroup dropped their target price on shares of Transocean from $9.00 to $7.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, February 21st. Bank of America upped their target price on shares of Transocean from $5.50 to $6.00 and gave the company an “underperform” rating in a research report on Monday, April 15th. Finally, Susquehanna upgraded shares of Transocean from a “neutral” rating to a “positive” rating and upped their target price for the company from $5.50 to $9.00 in a research report on Monday, April 8th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Transocean currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $7.70.

Transocean Stock Up 0.9 %

Shares of RIG opened at $5.27 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.68, a current ratio of 1.52 and a quick ratio of 1.22. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $5.74 and its 200-day simple moving average is $5.96. Transocean has a one year low of $4.45 and a one year high of $8.88. The company has a market capitalization of $4.32 billion, a P/E ratio of -10.13 and a beta of 2.78.

Transocean (NYSE:RIG) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Monday, April 29th. The offshore drilling services provider reported ($0.03) earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($0.13) by $0.10. Transocean had a negative net margin of 13.27% and a negative return on equity of 4.68%. The firm had revenue of $767.00 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $781.86 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted ($0.38) EPS. Transocean’s revenue was up 18.2% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Transocean will post 0.05 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Trading of Transocean

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. OLD Point Trust & Financial Services N A acquired a new position in Transocean in the 4th quarter worth $25,000. VisionPoint Advisory Group LLC acquired a new position in shares of Transocean during the 4th quarter worth about $28,000. Private Trust Co. NA boosted its stake in shares of Transocean by 1,489.8% during the 4th quarter. Private Trust Co. NA now owns 8,537 shares of the offshore drilling services provider’s stock worth $54,000 after buying an additional 8,000 shares during the last quarter. Fermata Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Transocean during the 1st quarter worth about $75,000. Finally, First Western Trust Bank acquired a new position in shares of Transocean during the 4th quarter worth about $76,000. 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.