Assenagon Asset Management S.A. Invests $790,000 in Transocean Ltd. $RIG

Assenagon Asset Management S.A. purchased a new position in shares of Transocean Ltd. (NYSE:RIG) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 191,191 shares of the offshore drilling services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $790,000.

Several other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in Transocean by 19.3% in the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 94,519,248 shares of the offshore drilling services provider’s stock worth $294,900,000 after purchasing an additional 15,315,289 shares in the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Transocean by 12.8% in the third quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 26,456,554 shares of the offshore drilling services provider’s stock valued at $82,544,000 after purchasing an additional 3,006,786 shares during the period. Dalal Street LLC acquired a new stake in Transocean during the third quarter worth about $76,260,000. Two Sigma Investments LP increased its position in Transocean by 0.3% during the third quarter. Two Sigma Investments LP now owns 18,636,188 shares of the offshore drilling services provider’s stock worth $58,145,000 after purchasing an additional 64,305 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Ghisallo Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in Transocean during the third quarter worth about $57,720,000. 67.73% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity at Transocean

In other Transocean news, CEO Keelan Adamson sold 58,687 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $5.00, for a total value of $293,435.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 1,222,182 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,110,910. This represents a 4.58% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, EVP Roderick James Mackenzie sold 78,370 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $6.36, for a total transaction of $498,433.20. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president owned 268,025 shares in the company, valued at $1,704,639. The trade was a 22.62% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold a total of 159,903 shares of company stock valued at $906,098 in the last quarter. 12.27% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts recently weighed in on RIG shares. Clarkson Capital lowered Transocean from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 19th. Barclays lowered Transocean from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and upped their price target for the company from $4.50 to $6.00 in a research note on Wednesday, February 18th. Fearnley Fonds cut Transocean from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 10th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reissued an “underweight” rating on shares of Transocean in a research report on Wednesday, December 10th. Finally, BTIG Research boosted their price objective on shares of Transocean from $6.00 to $10.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, February 9th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, five have issued a Hold rating and three have issued a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Reduce” and an average price target of $6.38.

Transocean Price Performance

Shares of RIG opened at $6.50 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $7.19 billion, a P/E ratio of -2.06 and a beta of 1.37. Transocean Ltd. has a fifty-two week low of $1.97 and a fifty-two week high of $7.14. The company has a quick ratio of 1.27, a current ratio of 1.56 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $6.01 and its 200 day moving average price is $4.63.

Transocean (NYSE:RIG) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Friday, February 20th. The offshore drilling services provider reported $0.02 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.09 by ($0.07). The business had revenue of $1.04 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.03 billion. Transocean had a negative net margin of 73.52% and a positive return on equity of 0.41%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 9.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned ($0.09) EPS. On average, research analysts forecast that Transocean Ltd. will post 0.14 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

About Transocean

Transocean Ltd. is a leading international provider of offshore contract drilling services for the oil and gas industry. The company specializes in the operation of mobile drilling units, including ultra-deepwater drillships, semisubmersible rigs and high-specification jackup rigs. Transocean’s fleet is designed to meet complex drilling requirements, from ultra-deepwater well construction to shelf exploration and development projects.

The company’s core services encompass the full spectrum of offshore drilling operations, including project and engineering management, marine operations, drilling supervision, and maintenance support.