Transocean (NYSE:RIG) Stock Gets Price Target Reduction from Morgan Stanley

Transocean (NYSE:RIG) had its price objective decreased by Morgan Stanley from $7.00 to $6.50 in a research note published on Monday morning,Benzinga reports. Morgan Stanley currently has an equal weight rating on the offshore drilling services provider’s stock.

A number of other equities research analysts also recently issued reports on the stock. Fearnley Fonds raised shares of Transocean from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, August 7th. Barclays dropped their target price on shares of Transocean from $8.00 to $7.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, August 12th. Zacks Research upgraded Transocean from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, October 5th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Transocean in a report on Thursday, October 15th. Finally, Wall Street Zen lowered Transocean from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Saturday, November 7th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, three have issued a Buy rating, five have given a Hold rating and three have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $6.61.

Transocean Stock Performance

NYSE RIG opened at $5.32 on Monday. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $5.70 and a 200-day moving average price of $5.87. The firm has a market cap of $5.94 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.96, a PEG ratio of 3.53 and a beta of 1.44. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.54, a current ratio of 1.53 and a quick ratio of 1.24. Transocean has a 1 year low of $3.68 and a 1 year high of $7.66.

Transocean (NYSE:RIG) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, November 2nd. The offshore drilling services provider reported $0.02 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.02. Transocean had a net margin of 7.25% and a return on equity of 1.84%. The company had revenue of $937.00 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $943.99 million. During the same period last year, the firm earned ($2.00) earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was down 8.9% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Transocean will post 0.20 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Transocean

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in RIG. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its position in Transocean by 12.3% during the first quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 48,819,576 shares of the offshore drilling services provider’s stock valued at $323,682,000 after buying an additional 5,349,264 shares during the period. State Street Corp raised its position in Transocean by 8.7% in the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 27,148,850 shares of the offshore drilling services provider’s stock worth $132,758,000 after acquiring an additional 2,166,646 shares during the period. Elliott Investment Management L.P. bought a new stake in Transocean in the first quarter worth about $103,606,000. Keybank National Association OH purchased a new position in Transocean in the third quarter valued at about $67,428,000. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp boosted its stake in Transocean by 67.8% in the first quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 5,698,827 shares of the offshore drilling services provider’s stock valued at $37,783,000 after acquiring an additional 2,303,297 shares during the last quarter. 67.73% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

About Transocean

Transocean Ltd. is an offshore contract drilling company that provides drilling services to oil and gas companies around the world. Its work focuses on offshore exploration and development, particularly in deepwater and harsh-environment locations. The company owns and operates a fleet of offshore drilling rigs, including drillships and semisubmersible rigs. It contracts these rigs to customers and provides the crews and related services needed to conduct offshore drilling operations. Transocean serves customers across multiple offshore regions worldwide.