BNP Paribas Financial Markets Sells 56,919 Shares of Transocean Ltd. (NYSE:RIG)

BNP Paribas Financial Markets reduced its holdings in Transocean Ltd. (NYSE:RIG) by 32.8% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 116,575 shares of the offshore drilling services provider’s stock after selling 56,919 shares during the quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets’ holdings in Transocean were worth $437,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in RIG. Barclays PLC lifted its stake in Transocean by 60.1% in the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 1,623,924 shares of the offshore drilling services provider’s stock worth $6,902,000 after purchasing an additional 609,681 shares during the last quarter. Ballentine Partners LLC grew its holdings in Transocean by 19.4% in the fourth quarter. Ballentine Partners LLC now owns 18,247 shares of the offshore drilling services provider’s stock worth $68,000 after purchasing an additional 2,963 shares during the period. PFG Investments LLC raised its position in shares of Transocean by 6.0% in the 4th quarter. PFG Investments LLC now owns 195,087 shares of the offshore drilling services provider’s stock worth $732,000 after purchasing an additional 11,000 shares during the last quarter. Blue Trust Inc. raised 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 acquiring an additional 4,826 shares during the last quarter. Finally, KBC Group NV raised its position in Transocean by 31.6% in the 4th quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 31,295 shares of the offshore drilling services provider’s stock worth $117,000 after buying an additional 7,510 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 67.73% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

RIG has been the topic of several recent research reports. Barclays lowered their price objective on shares of Transocean from $4.00 to $3.50 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, April 7th. BTIG Research set a $5.00 price target on shares of Transocean and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, May 5th. Citigroup cut their price objective 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. Morgan Stanley cut their price objective on Transocean from $4.00 to $3.50 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, May 16th. Finally, Susquehanna reduced their price objective on Transocean from $5.00 to $4.00 and set a “positive” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, April 14th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $4.58.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, EVP Roderick James Mackenzie sold 22,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $2.78, for a total value of $61,160.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 340,841 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $947,537.98. This trade represents a 6.06% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Insiders own 12.27% of the company’s stock.

Transocean Price Performance

Shares of NYSE RIG opened at $2.51 on Monday. The company has a market cap of $2.21 billion, a PE ratio of -3.43, a P/E/G ratio of 0.86 and a beta of 2.52. Transocean Ltd. has a fifty-two week low of $1.97 and a fifty-two week high of $6.25. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.60, a quick ratio of 1.34 and a current ratio of 1.47. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $2.55 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $3.34.

Transocean (NYSE:RIG) last released its quarterly earnings data on Monday, April 28th. The offshore drilling services provider reported ($0.10) EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.12) by $0.02. The business had revenue of $906.00 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $884.92 million. Transocean had a negative net margin of 14.53% and a negative return on equity of 0.52%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 18.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned ($0.03) EPS. As a group, equities analysts expect that Transocean Ltd. will post 0.14 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Transocean Company Profile

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.