Seadrill (NYSE:SDRL) Hits New 12-Month High - Time to Buy?

Key Points

• Seadrill shares hit a new 52-week high, trading as high as $51.25 on Monday and recently changing hands near $49.16, up from the prior close of $48.32.
• Analyst sentiment has improved, with Barclays upgrading the stock to overweight and lifting its target to $59, while the overall consensus now sits at Moderate Buy with a $55 average price target.
• The company’s latest earnings showed a beat on both profit and revenue, posting $0.12 EPS versus $0.07 expected and $362 million in revenue versus $335.36 million expected.

Seadrill Limited (NYSE:SDRL - Get Free Report)'s share price reached a new 52-week high during mid-day trading on Monday . The stock traded as high as $51.25 and last traded at $49.1630, with a volume of 76587 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at $48.32.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on SDRL shares. Zacks Research raised shares of Seadrill from a "strong sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 28th. Barclays raised shares of Seadrill from an "equal weight" rating to an "overweight" rating and lifted their price target for the company from $41.00 to $59.00 in a research note on Thursday. BWS Financial restated a "buy" rating and set a $80.00 price objective on shares of Seadrill in a report on Tuesday, April 7th. Weiss Ratings restated a "sell (d+)" rating on shares of Seadrill in a report on Thursday, April 2nd. Finally, Citigroup upped their price target on Seadrill from $46.00 to $48.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Wednesday, April 15th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, three have assigned a Buy rating, three have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $55.00.

Seadrill Price Performance

The company has a current ratio of 2.03, a quick ratio of 2.03 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $45.72 and a 200 day moving average price of $38.36. The stock has a market cap of $3.06 billion, a PE ratio of -39.62 and a beta of 1.25.

Seadrill (NYSE:SDRL - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 25th. The oil and gas company reported $0.12 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.07 by $0.05. Seadrill had a negative return on equity of 2.07% and a negative net margin of 5.36%.The firm had revenue of $362.00 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $335.36 million. As a group, research analysts forecast that Seadrill Limited will post 0.76 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in SDRL. Farther Finance Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in Seadrill by 19.7% during the 3rd quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 2,086 shares of the oil and gas company's stock worth $63,000 after purchasing an additional 343 shares in the last quarter. Amica Retiree Medical Trust lifted its holdings in Seadrill by 13.7% during the 3rd quarter. Amica Retiree Medical Trust now owns 2,942 shares of the oil and gas company's stock worth $89,000 after purchasing an additional 355 shares in the last quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. lifted its holdings in Seadrill by 11.7% during the 3rd quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 4,615 shares of the oil and gas company's stock worth $139,000 after purchasing an additional 484 shares in the last quarter. Osaic Holdings Inc. lifted its holdings in Seadrill by 18.8% during the 2nd quarter. Osaic Holdings Inc. now owns 3,521 shares of the oil and gas company's stock worth $92,000 after purchasing an additional 558 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Swiss National Bank lifted its holdings in Seadrill by 0.5% during the 1st quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 117,200 shares of the oil and gas company's stock worth $5,333,000 after purchasing an additional 600 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 95.67% of the company's stock.

About Seadrill

Seadrill Limited, trading on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol SDRL, is a leading provider of offshore drilling services to the global oil and gas industry. The company specializes in the design, construction, deployment and operation of mobile offshore drilling units, serving major exploration and production companies with turnkey drilling solutions.

Seadrill’s fleet comprises ultra-deepwater drillships, semi-submersible rigs and high-specification jack-up units capable of operating in some of the world’s most challenging offshore environments.

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