Northern Trust Corp Increases Holdings in Transocean Ltd. (NYSE:RIG)

Northern Trust Corp lifted its stake in shares of Transocean Ltd. (NYSE:RIG - Free Report) by 7.5% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 7,470,701 shares of the offshore drilling services provider's stock after purchasing an additional 520,053 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp owned 0.85% of Transocean worth $28,015,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Twin Tree Management LP acquired a new position in Transocean in the 4th quarter valued at about $27,000. Optiver Holding B.V. lifted its holdings in shares of Transocean by 53.6% during the fourth quarter. Optiver Holding B.V. now owns 8,400 shares of the offshore drilling services provider's stock worth $32,000 after buying an additional 2,933 shares in the last quarter. Blue Trust Inc. raised its stake in Transocean by 96.2% in the 4th quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 9,841 shares of the offshore drilling services provider's stock worth $37,000 after purchasing an additional 4,826 shares in the last quarter. Adero Partners LLC bought a new stake in Transocean in the 4th quarter valued at about $38,000. Finally, Stratos Wealth Partners LTD. acquired a new position in shares of Transocean during the 4th quarter worth approximately $40,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 67.73% of the company's stock.

Insider Activity at Transocean

In other Transocean news, EVP Roderick James Mackenzie sold 22,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Friday, April 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $2.23, for a total value of $49,060.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 362,841 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $809,135.43. This represents a 5.72% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. 12.27% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have recently issued reports on RIG shares. Morgan Stanley reduced their target price on Transocean from $5.00 to $4.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, March 27th. BTIG Research set a $5.00 target price on Transocean and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Monday, May 5th. Barclays lowered their target price on Transocean from $4.00 to $3.50 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Monday, April 7th. Susquehanna reduced their price objective on Transocean from $5.00 to $4.00 and set a "positive" rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, April 14th. Finally, Evercore ISI downgraded Transocean from an "outperform" rating to an "in-line" rating and dropped their target price for the company from $6.00 to $5.00 in a research report on Wednesday, January 15th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $4.63.

Transocean Trading Up 2.2%

Transocean stock traded up $0.06 during trading hours on Wednesday, reaching $2.79. 40,489,823 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 25,625,095. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.46 billion, a PE ratio of -3.82, a PEG ratio of 0.86 and a beta of 2.52. The company has a quick ratio of 1.34, a current ratio of 1.47 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.60. The firm's 50 day simple moving average is $2.63 and its 200 day simple moving average is $3.45. Transocean Ltd. has a twelve month low of $1.97 and a twelve month high of $6.38.

Transocean (NYSE:RIG - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Monday, April 28th. The offshore drilling services provider reported ($0.10) EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of ($0.12) by $0.02. Transocean had a negative return on equity of 0.52% and a negative net margin of 14.53%. The firm had revenue of $906.00 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $884.92 million. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted ($0.03) earnings per share. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 18.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts predict that Transocean Ltd. will post 0.14 earnings per share for the current year.

About Transocean

Transocean Ltd., together with its subsidiaries, provides offshore contract drilling services for oil and gas wells worldwide. It contracts mobile offshore drilling rigs, related equipment, and work crews to drill oil and gas wells. The company operates a fleet of mobile offshore drilling units, consisting of ultra-deepwater floaters and harsh environment floaters.