J.W. Cole Advisors Inc. Makes New Investment in Transocean Ltd. (NYSE:RIG)

J.W. Cole Advisors Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Transocean Ltd. (NYSE:RIG) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm purchased 52,515 shares of the offshore drilling services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $197,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in RIG. CWM LLC lifted its stake in Transocean by 36.1% during the third quarter. CWM LLC now owns 17,065 shares of the offshore drilling services provider’s stock worth $73,000 after purchasing an additional 4,529 shares during the period. Creative Planning lifted its stake in Transocean by 63.0% during the third quarter. Creative Planning now owns 290,993 shares of the offshore drilling services provider’s stock worth $1,237,000 after purchasing an additional 112,512 shares during the period. International Assets Investment Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Transocean by 335.3% in the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 196,699 shares of the offshore drilling services provider’s stock valued at $836,000 after acquiring an additional 151,507 shares during the last quarter. Murphy Pohlad Asset Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Transocean by 8.4% in the third quarter. Murphy Pohlad Asset Management LLC now owns 106,950 shares of the offshore drilling services provider’s stock valued at $455,000 after acquiring an additional 8,300 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. raised its stake in shares of Transocean by 19.0% in the third quarter. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 33,442 shares of the offshore drilling services provider’s stock valued at $142,000 after acquiring an additional 5,344 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 67.73% of the company’s stock.

Transocean Stock Performance

Shares of Transocean stock opened at $3.37 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.60, a current ratio of 1.47 and a quick ratio of 1.34. The firm has a market cap of $2.96 billion, a P/E ratio of -4.61, a P/E/G ratio of 0.83 and a beta of 2.70. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $3.79 and a 200 day simple moving average of $4.21. Transocean Ltd. has a fifty-two week low of $3.35 and a fifty-two week high of $6.88.

Transocean (NYSE:RIG) last released its earnings results on Monday, February 17th. The offshore drilling services provider reported ($0.09) EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.02 by ($0.11). Transocean had a negative return on equity of 0.52% and a negative net margin of 14.53%. The business had revenue of $952.00 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $962.28 million. Sell-side analysts predict that Transocean Ltd. will post 0.14 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Transocean news, EVP Roderick James Mackenzie sold 22,000 shares of Transocean stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $3.85, for a total transaction of $84,700.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 313,072 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,205,327.20. The trade was a 6.57 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Company insiders own 13.16% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have recently issued reports on RIG shares. Susquehanna cut their target price on shares of Transocean from $7.00 to $6.50 and set a “positive” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, November 1st. TD Cowen cut their target price on shares of Transocean from $6.50 to $5.50 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, January 8th. Evercore ISI cut shares of Transocean from an “outperform” rating to an “in-line” rating and cut their target price for the company from $6.00 to $5.00 in a research note on Wednesday, January 15th. Barclays upgraded shares of Transocean from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $4.50 target price for the company in a research note on Wednesday, December 18th. Finally, Benchmark reiterated a “hold” rating on shares of Transocean in a research note on Tuesday, December 3rd. Two research 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 MarketBeat, Transocean currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $5.81.

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.