Hosking Partners LLP Purchases 324,955 Shares of Transocean Ltd. (NYSE:RIG)

Hosking Partners LLP lifted its stake in Transocean Ltd. (NYSE:RIG - Free Report) by 23.5% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 1,706,143 shares of the offshore drilling services provider's stock after acquiring an additional 324,955 shares during the quarter. Hosking Partners LLP owned approximately 0.19% of Transocean worth $6,398,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the stock. Blue Trust Inc. increased its position in shares of Transocean by 96.2% during 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 during the last quarter. Adero Partners LLC bought a new position in shares of Transocean in the fourth quarter valued at $38,000. Stratos Wealth Partners LTD. acquired a new position in Transocean during the fourth quarter worth $40,000. R Squared Ltd bought a new stake in Transocean during the fourth quarter worth $41,000. Finally, Transcend Capital Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Transocean in the fourth quarter valued at $41,000. Institutional investors own 67.73% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded shares of Transocean from an "underweight" rating to a "neutral" rating and set a $5.00 price objective on the stock in a research note on Friday, December 6th. Benchmark reissued a "hold" rating on shares of Transocean in a research report on Tuesday, December 3rd. Barclays cut their price objective on Transocean from $4.50 to $4.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, February 25th. Evercore ISI lowered Transocean from an "outperform" rating to an "in-line" rating and decreased their target price for the stock from $6.00 to $5.00 in a report on Wednesday, January 15th. Finally, StockNews.com raised Transocean to a "sell" rating in a report on Tuesday, November 12th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $5.75.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, EVP Roderick James Mackenzie sold 22,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $3.85, for a total transaction of $84,700.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 313,072 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,205,327.20. This represents a 6.57 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Company insiders own 13.16% of the company's stock.

Transocean Stock Performance

NYSE RIG traded up $0.08 on Tuesday, reaching $2.75. The stock had a trading volume of 40,739,123 shares, compared to its average volume of 29,563,520. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.60, a current ratio of 1.47 and a quick ratio of 1.34. The company has a market cap of $2.41 billion, a P/E ratio of -3.76, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.86 and a beta of 2.70. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $3.72 and a two-hundred day moving average of $4.11. Transocean Ltd. has a 1-year low of $2.55 and a 1-year high of $6.88.

Transocean (NYSE:RIG - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, February 17th. The offshore drilling services provider reported ($0.09) EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.02 by ($0.11). Transocean had a negative net margin of 14.53% and a negative return on equity of 0.52%. The business had revenue of $952.00 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $962.28 million. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Transocean Ltd. will post 0.14 EPS for the current year.

Transocean Profile

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.