Transocean Ltd. $RIG Shares Sold by Engineers Gate Manager LP

Key Points

• Engineers Gate Manager LP cut its Transocean stake by 32.5% in the second quarter, selling 360,946 shares and retaining 750,415 shares worth approximately $3.67 million.
• Institutional ownership remains substantial at 67.73%, with several funds—including Elliott Investment Management and Assenagon Asset Management—initiating or increasing positions.
• Analysts have a consensus “Hold” rating and a $6.68 target price. Transocean slightly exceeded quarterly earnings expectations, reporting $0.03 EPS and $966 million in revenue, though revenue declined 2.2% year over year.

Engineers Gate Manager LP reduced its position in Transocean Ltd. (NYSE:RIG - Free Report) by 32.5% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 750,415 shares of the offshore drilling services provider's stock after selling 360,946 shares during the quarter. Engineers Gate Manager LP owned about 0.07% of Transocean worth $3,670,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. HighTower Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Transocean by 33.5% in the 4th quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC now owns 2,085,842 shares of the offshore drilling services provider's stock worth $8,615,000 after purchasing an additional 523,528 shares in the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. purchased a new stake in shares of Transocean in the second quarter valued at approximately $37,477,000. Fideuram Intesa Sanpaolo Private Banking S.P.A. acquired a new stake in shares of Transocean in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $2,338,000. Elliott Investment Management L.P. acquired a new stake in shares of Transocean in the first quarter valued at approximately $103,606,000. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its position in Transocean by 12.3% during the first quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 48,819,576 shares of the offshore drilling services provider's stock worth $323,682,000 after buying an additional 5,349,264 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 67.73% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Susquehanna dropped their price objective on shares of Transocean from $8.00 to $7.00 and set a "positive" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, July 8th. Barclays reduced their target price on shares of Transocean from $8.00 to $7.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, August 12th. Fearnley Fonds upgraded shares of Transocean from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Friday, August 7th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reissued a "sell (d-)" rating on shares of Transocean in a research note on Friday, July 17th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, three have given a Buy rating, four have issued a Hold rating and three have assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Transocean presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $6.68.

Transocean Price Performance

Shares of RIG opened at $5.66 on Friday. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $5.50 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $5.98. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.56, a current ratio of 1.59 and a quick ratio of 1.27. Transocean Ltd. has a 1-year low of $3.03 and a 1-year high of $7.66. The stock has a market cap of $6.32 billion, a PE ratio of -3.01, a P/E/G ratio of 4.24 and a beta of 1.34.

Transocean (NYSE:RIG - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, August 5th. The offshore drilling services provider reported $0.03 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.01 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $966.00 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $956.64 million. Transocean had a positive return on equity of 2.60% and a negative net margin of 40.24%.Transocean's revenue was down 2.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned ($1.06) EPS. As a group, analysts forecast that Transocean Ltd. will post 0.18 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Transocean

In other news, Director Chad Deaton acquired 35,000 shares of Transocean stock in a transaction dated 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 acquisition, the director owned 237,421 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,175,233.95. This trade represents a 17.29% increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Insiders own 9.70% of the company's stock.

About Transocean

Transocean Ltd. NYSE: RIG is an international offshore contract drilling company that provides drilling services to oil and gas companies. Its primary business is operating mobile offshore drilling units under contracts that support exploration, development and production activities in offshore oil and natural gas fields.

The company's fleet is focused primarily on ultra-deepwater and harsh-environment drilling units, including drillships and semisubmersible rigs. Transocean provides rig operations, drilling personnel, equipment and related services intended to help customers safely construct and complete offshore wells.

Transocean serves energy companies in major offshore drilling regions around the world.

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