Morgan Stanley Cuts Transocean (NYSE:RIG) Price Target to $4.00

Transocean (NYSE:RIG) had its price target reduced by Morgan Stanley from $5.00 to $4.00 in a research report released on Thursday morning,Benzinga reports. Morgan Stanley currently has an equal weight rating on the offshore drilling services provider’s stock.

RIG has been the topic of a number of other reports. Evercore ISI lowered 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 report on Wednesday, January 15th. Barclays cut their price target on shares of Transocean from $4.50 to $4.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, February 25th. SEB Equity Research set a $2.80 target price on shares of Transocean in a research report on Wednesday, March 5th. Citigroup reduced their price target on shares of Transocean from $4.50 to $3.50 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, March 19th. Finally, Benchmark reissued a “hold” rating on shares of Transocean in a report on Tuesday, December 3rd. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Transocean currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $5.03.

Transocean Price Performance

RIG opened at $3.20 on Thursday. Transocean has a twelve month low of $2.55 and a twelve month high of $6.88. The company has a current ratio of 1.47, a quick ratio of 1.34 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.60. The firm has a market cap of $2.82 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -4.38, a PEG ratio of 0.86 and a beta of 2.72. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $3.40 and a 200 day simple moving average of $3.90.

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Transocean news, EVP Roderick James Mackenzie sold 22,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $3.85, for a total value of $84,700.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 313,072 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,205,327.20. This trade represents a 6.57 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. 13.16% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Transocean

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Twin Tree Management LP bought a new position in Transocean in the 4th quarter worth about $27,000. Optiver Holding B.V. boosted its position in shares of Transocean by 53.6% during the fourth quarter. Optiver Holding B.V. now owns 8,400 shares of the offshore drilling services provider’s stock worth $32,000 after buying an additional 2,933 shares during the period. Blue Trust Inc. grew its holdings in Transocean by 96.2% in the 4th quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 9,841 shares of the offshore drilling services provider’s stock worth $37,000 after buying an additional 4,826 shares in the last quarter. Adero Partners LLC acquired a new stake in Transocean in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $38,000. Finally, Stratos Wealth Partners LTD. bought a new stake in Transocean during the 4th quarter valued at $40,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.