BlackRock Inc. Takes Position in Seadrill Limited $SDRL

BlackRock Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Seadrill Limited (NYSE:SDRL) in the second quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm bought 5,486,757 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock, valued at approximately $207,509,000. BlackRock Inc. owned approximately 0.09% of Seadrill at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its holdings in shares of Seadrill by 10.1% in the first quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 3,553,281 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $161,671,000 after buying an additional 326,835 shares during the last quarter. Elliott Investment Management L.P. increased its holdings in Seadrill by 3.5% during the first quarter. Elliott Investment Management L.P. now owns 4,719,085 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $214,718,000 after buying an additional 160,327 shares during the last quarter. Quantinno Capital Management LP increased its holdings in Seadrill by 91.9% during the first quarter. Quantinno Capital Management LP now owns 71,916 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $3,272,000 after buying an additional 34,436 shares during the last quarter. Deutsche Bank AG bought a new position in Seadrill in the second quarter worth approximately $10,106,000. Finally, Hosking Partners LLP raised its position in Seadrill by 14.6% in the fourth quarter. Hosking Partners LLP now owns 714,150 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $24,710,000 after acquiring an additional 91,175 shares during the period. 95.67% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Seadrill Stock Up 4.1%

Shares of SDRL stock opened at $48.50 on Friday. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $42.92 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $44.89. Seadrill Limited has a 52 week low of $28.10 and a 52 week high of $55.47. The stock has a market cap of $3.03 billion, a P/E ratio of 1,616.73 and a beta of 1.21. The company has a quick ratio of 2.50, a current ratio of 2.50 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26.

Seadrill (NYSE:SDRL) last issued its earnings results on Monday, August 10th. The oil and gas company reported $0.47 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.29 by $0.18. The firm had revenue of $430.00 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $388.46 million. Seadrill had a return on equity of 0.64% and a net margin of 0.07%. Analysts predict that Seadrill Limited will post 0.37 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. BWS Financial reissued a “buy” rating and set a $80.00 price objective on shares of Seadrill in a research report on Tuesday, August 11th. Capital One Financial set a $55.00 target price on Seadrill and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 1st. Barclays upgraded Seadrill from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and upped their price target for the stock from $41.00 to $59.00 in a research report on Thursday, May 7th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “sell (d+)” rating on shares of Seadrill in a research note on Tuesday, June 30th. Finally, Fearnley Fonds raised Seadrill from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 12th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, three have given a Buy rating, two have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $55.00.

About Seadrill

Seadrill Limited, trading on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol SDRL, is a leading provider of offshore drilling services to the global oil and gas industry. The company specializes in the design, construction, deployment and operation of mobile offshore drilling units, serving major exploration and production companies with turnkey drilling solutions.

Seadrill’s fleet comprises ultra-deepwater drillships, semi-submersible rigs and high-specification jack-up units capable of operating in some of the world’s most challenging offshore environments.