Seadrill (NYSE:SDRL) Given Buy Rating at BWS Financial

Seadrill (NYSE:SDRL - Get Free Report)'s stock had its "buy" rating restated by equities research analysts at BWS Financial in a report issued on Wednesday, Benzinga reports. They currently have a $80.00 price objective on the oil and gas company's stock. BWS Financial's target price would indicate a potential upside of 70.93% from the stock's current price.

A number of other equities analysts have also recently weighed in on SDRL. Capital One Financial set a $55.00 price target on Seadrill and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Wednesday, July 1st. Weiss Ratings raised Seadrill from a "sell (d+)" rating to a "hold (c-)" rating in a research report on Friday. Zacks Research raised Seadrill from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Monday, September 14th. Finally, Citigroup restated a "neutral" rating on shares of Seadrill in a research note on Monday, September 7th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, three have assigned a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Seadrill currently has an average rating of "Buy" and a consensus target price of $59.40.

Seadrill Price Performance

Shares of SDRL traded down $2.20 during trading hours on Wednesday, reaching $46.80. 1,005,898 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 779,123. The company has a quick ratio of 2.50, a current ratio of 2.50 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.93 billion, a PE ratio of 1,560.13 and a beta of 1.25. Seadrill has a fifty-two week low of $28.10 and a fifty-two week high of $55.47. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $46.86 and a 200 day simple moving average of $45.77.

Seadrill (NYSE:SDRL - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Monday, August 10th. The oil and gas company reported $0.47 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.29 by $0.18. Seadrill had a return on equity of 0.64% and a net margin of 0.07%. The business had revenue of $430.00 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $388.46 million. As a group, research analysts predict that Seadrill will post 0.89 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Seadrill

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Elliott Investment Management L.P. grew its holdings in Seadrill by 3.5% in the 1st quarter. Elliott Investment Management L.P. now owns 4,719,085 shares of the oil and gas company's stock valued at $214,718,000 after buying an additional 160,327 shares during the last quarter. BlackRock Inc. bought a new position in Seadrill in the 2nd quarter valued at $207,509,000. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its stake in shares of Seadrill by 10.1% in the 1st quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 3,553,281 shares of the oil and gas company's stock valued at $161,671,000 after buying an additional 326,835 shares during the period. Goehring & Rozencwajg Associates LLC grew its stake in shares of Seadrill by 27.6% during the first quarter. Goehring & Rozencwajg Associates LLC now owns 2,449,565 shares of the oil and gas company's stock worth $111,455,000 after purchasing an additional 529,884 shares during the period. Finally, Patient Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in Seadrill in the second quarter valued at about $73,876,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 95.67% of the company's stock.

About Seadrill

Seadrill Limited is an offshore drilling contractor that provides drilling services to oil and gas companies worldwide. The company operates and manages offshore drilling units, including drillships and semisubmersible rigs, used to explore for and develop oil and natural gas resources in deepwater and other challenging marine environments.

Its services include contract drilling, rig operations, well construction support and related offshore services. Seadrill's fleet is designed to serve a range of offshore projects, with operations and contract activity spanning major energy-producing regions such as the Gulf of Mexico, Brazil, the North Sea, West Africa and other international markets.

Seadrill was founded in 2005 and has expanded through fleet development, acquisitions and strategic transactions.