Dimensional Fund Advisors LP Purchases 5,349,264 Shares of Transocean Ltd. $RIG

Key Points

• Dimensional Fund Advisors increased its Transocean stake by 12.3% in the first quarter, buying 5.35 million more shares and bringing its holdings to 48.8 million shares worth about $323.7 million.
• Transocean reported mixed quarterly results: revenue of $1.08 billion beat expectations, but EPS came in at a loss of $0.03, missing analysts’ estimates of a $0.07 profit.
• Analyst sentiment remains cautious overall, with an average Hold rating and a $6.82 average price target, though Barclays recently upgraded the stock to Overweight and raised its target to $8.00.

Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its position in Transocean Ltd. (NYSE:RIG - Free Report) by 12.3% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 48,819,576 shares of the offshore drilling services provider's stock after buying an additional 5,349,264 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP owned approximately 4.41% of Transocean worth $323,682,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. HighTower Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Transocean by 33.5% during the 4th quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC now owns 2,085,842 shares of the offshore drilling services provider's stock valued at $8,615,000 after purchasing an additional 523,528 shares during the last quarter. Fideuram Intesa Sanpaolo Private Banking S.P.A. purchased a new position in shares of Transocean in the fourth quarter worth $2,338,000. SG Americas Securities LLC raised its stake in shares of Transocean by 194.7% in the fourth quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 620,400 shares of the offshore drilling services provider's stock worth $2,562,000 after purchasing an additional 409,864 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Transocean by 2.6% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 97,006,263 shares of the offshore drilling services provider's stock valued at $400,636,000 after purchasing an additional 2,487,015 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Keybank National Association OH boosted its position in shares of Transocean by 8.7% during the fourth quarter. Keybank National Association OH now owns 12,251,077 shares of the offshore drilling services provider's stock valued at $50,597,000 after buying an additional 977,623 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 67.73% of the company's stock.

Transocean Trading Up 4.3%

Shares of NYSE:RIG opened at $5.24 on Wednesday. The stock's 50-day simple moving average is $5.80 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $5.83. The stock has a market capitalization of $5.84 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -1.76, a PEG ratio of 2.94 and a beta of 1.30. Transocean Ltd. has a 52-week low of $2.63 and a 52-week high of $7.66. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.60, a quick ratio of 1.20 and a current ratio of 1.54.

Transocean (NYSE:RIG - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, May 4th. The offshore drilling services provider reported ($0.03) EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.07 by ($0.10). Transocean had a negative net margin of 66.79% and a positive return on equity of 0.88%. The business had revenue of $1.08 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.02 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned ($0.10) EPS. Transocean's revenue for the quarter was up 19.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts expect that Transocean Ltd. will post 0.16 EPS for the current year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts recently commented on the company. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on Transocean from $5.00 to $7.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a report on Wednesday, April 15th. Barclays raised shares of Transocean from an "equal weight" rating to an "overweight" rating and raised their price target for the company from $6.00 to $8.00 in a report on Thursday, May 7th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a "sell (d-)" rating on shares of Transocean in a research note on Friday. TD Cowen boosted their price objective on shares of Transocean from $5.50 to $6.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a report on Wednesday, May 6th. Finally, Susquehanna lowered their price objective on shares of Transocean from $8.00 to $7.00 and set a "positive" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, July 8th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, five have issued a Hold rating and three have assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $6.82.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Transocean news, Director Chad C. Deaton purchased 35,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Thursday, July 2nd. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $4.95 per share, for a total transaction of $173,250.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 237,421 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,175,233.95. The trade was a 17.29% increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 9.70% of the company's stock.

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.

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