Seadrill (NYSE:SDRL) Shares Gap Up After Analyst Upgrade

Seadrill Limited (NYSE:SDRL) shares gapped up prior to trading on Thursday after Citigroup upgraded the stock from a sell rating to a neutral rating. The stock had previously closed at $42.40, but opened at $44.14. Citigroup now has a $46.00 price target on the stock, up from their previous price target of $32.00. Seadrill shares last traded at $44.0910, with a volume of 300,373 shares changing hands.

Other equities analysts have also issued research reports about the company. Zacks Research lowered Seadrill from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research note on Monday, February 16th. BWS Financial restated a “buy” rating and issued a $80.00 price objective on shares of Seadrill in a report on Friday, January 23rd. BTIG Research upped their target price on shares of Seadrill from $33.00 to $40.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, January 9th. Weiss Ratings lowered shares of Seadrill from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “sell (d+)” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 6th. Finally, Barclays boosted their price target on shares of Seadrill from $39.00 to $41.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, two have assigned a Buy rating, three have issued a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $48.00.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in SDRL. Elliott Investment Management L.P. lifted its holdings in Seadrill by 23.1% during the 4th quarter. Elliott Investment Management L.P. now owns 4,558,758 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $157,733,000 after buying an additional 855,012 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Seadrill by 0.6% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 3,807,933 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $131,754,000 after acquiring an additional 23,672 shares in the last quarter. Adage Capital Partners GP L.L.C. increased its position in shares of Seadrill by 12.0% during the fourth quarter. Adage Capital Partners GP L.L.C. now owns 3,484,940 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $120,579,000 after acquiring an additional 373,176 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its stake in shares of Seadrill by 1.1% in the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 3,226,446 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $111,635,000 after acquiring an additional 34,511 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Schf GPE LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Seadrill in the second quarter valued at $60,132,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 95.67% of the company’s stock.

Seadrill Stock Performance

The stock has a market capitalization of $2.73 billion, a PE ratio of -35.25 and a beta of 1.45. The company has a quick ratio of 1.89, a current ratio of 2.03 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $38.88 and a 200-day moving average of $33.88.

Seadrill (NYSE:SDRL) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 25th. The oil and gas company reported $0.12 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.07 by $0.05. The company had revenue of $362.00 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $335.36 million. Seadrill had a negative return on equity of 2.07% and a negative net margin of 5.36%. Equities analysts anticipate that Seadrill Limited will post 1.86 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Seadrill Company Profile

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.