Seadrill (NYSE:SDRL) Rating Lowered to “Hold” at Zacks Research

Seadrill (NYSE:SDRL) was downgraded by equities research analysts at Zacks Research from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note issued on Wednesday, Zacks reports.

Other equities research analysts also recently issued reports about the stock. Citigroup reiterated a “neutral” rating on shares of Seadrill in a research note on Monday, September 7th. Weiss Ratings raised shares of Seadrill from a “sell (d+)” rating to a “hold (c-)” rating in a research note on Friday, October 9th. BWS Financial reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $80.00 price target on shares of Seadrill in a research report on Wednesday. Finally, Capital One Financial set a $55.00 price target on Seadrill and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 1st. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, three have assigned a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Seadrill currently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $59.40.

Seadrill Stock Down 1.5%

Shares of NYSE:SDRL opened at $46.29 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26, a quick ratio of 2.50 and a current ratio of 2.50. Seadrill has a 1 year low of $28.10 and a 1 year high of $55.47. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.90 billion, a P/E ratio of 1,543.10 and a beta of 1.25. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $47.03 and a 200-day simple moving average of $45.78.

Seadrill (NYSE:SDRL) last posted its earnings results on Monday, August 10th. The oil and gas company reported $0.47 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.29 by $0.18. The firm had revenue of $430.00 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $388.46 million. Seadrill had a net margin of 0.07% and a return on equity of 0.64%. Equities analysts forecast that Seadrill will post 0.98 earnings per share for the current year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Seadrill

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. BlackRock Inc. purchased a new position in Seadrill in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $207,509,000. Elliott Investment Management L.P. raised its stake in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 160,327 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its stake in shares of Seadrill by 10.1% during the first quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 3,553,281 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $161,671,000 after purchasing an additional 326,835 shares during the period. Goehring & Rozencwajg Associates LLC lifted its position in shares of Seadrill by 27.6% during the first quarter. Goehring & Rozencwajg Associates LLC now owns 2,449,565 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $111,455,000 after purchasing an additional 529,884 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Patient Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Seadrill during the second quarter worth $73,876,000. 95.67% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About Seadrill

Seadrill Limited is an offshore drilling contractor that provides drilling services to oil and gas companies worldwide. The company operates and manages offshore drilling units, including drillships and semisubmersible rigs, used to explore for and develop oil and natural gas resources in deepwater and other challenging marine environments.

Its services include contract drilling, rig operations, well construction support and related offshore services. Seadrill’s fleet is designed to serve a range of offshore projects, with operations and contract activity spanning major energy-producing regions such as the Gulf of Mexico, Brazil, the North Sea, West Africa and other international markets.

Seadrill was founded in 2005 and has expanded through fleet development, acquisitions and strategic transactions.