Meridian Investment Counsel Inc. Lowers Stock Holdings in Transocean Ltd. (NYSE:RIG)

Meridian Investment Counsel Inc. trimmed its holdings in shares of Transocean Ltd. (NYSE:RIG) by 11.8% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 15,000 shares of the offshore drilling services provider’s stock after selling 2,000 shares during the period. Meridian Investment Counsel Inc.’s holdings in Transocean were worth $80,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Transocean in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $30,000. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. bought a new stake in shares of Transocean during the 2nd quarter valued at $16,179,000. Silver Lake Advisory LLC bought a new stake in shares of Transocean during the 2nd quarter valued at $367,000. Murphy Pohlad Asset Management LLC boosted its holdings in Transocean by 2.6% in the 2nd quarter. Murphy Pohlad Asset Management LLC now owns 98,650 shares of the offshore drilling services provider’s stock worth $528,000 after buying an additional 2,500 shares during the period. Finally, Muhlenkamp & Co. Inc. boosted its holdings in Transocean by 0.4% in the 2nd quarter. Muhlenkamp & Co. Inc. now owns 1,014,269 shares of the offshore drilling services provider’s stock worth $5,426,000 after buying an additional 3,771 shares during the period. 67.73% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Transocean

In related news, Director (Cyprus) Ltd Perestroika bought 2,000,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 2nd. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $5.23 per share, with a total value of $10,460,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 89,574,894 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $468,476,695.62. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Insiders own 13.16% of the company’s stock.

Transocean Stock Up 0.4 %

RIG traded up $0.02 during trading hours on Monday, hitting $5.20. 13,315,041 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 17,954,773. Transocean Ltd. has a 12-month low of $4.45 and a 12-month high of $8.88. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $5.31 and a 200 day moving average of $5.53. The company has a current ratio of 1.36, a quick ratio of 1.08 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.63. The firm has a market cap of $4.89 billion, a P/E ratio of -9.96 and a beta of 2.85.

Transocean (NYSE:RIG) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 31st. The offshore drilling services provider reported ($0.15) earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.08) by ($0.07). Transocean had a negative return on equity of 4.76% and a negative net margin of 11.34%. The business had revenue of $861.00 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $862.25 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned ($0.15) EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 18.1% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts predict that Transocean Ltd. will post -0.1 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have commented on RIG. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Transocean to a “sell” rating in a research note on Monday, August 5th. Benchmark reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $8.00 price target on shares of Transocean in a report on Friday, August 2nd. Finally, Evercore ISI dropped their target price on shares of Transocean from $9.00 to $7.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, May 1st. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $7.25.

Transocean 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.