Van ECK Associates Corp Buys 1,616,690 Shares of Transocean Ltd. (NYSE:RIG)

Van ECK Associates Corp increased its stake in shares of Transocean Ltd. (NYSE:RIG) by 11.3% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 15,908,217 shares of the offshore drilling services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,616,690 shares during the quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp’s holdings in Transocean were worth $101,017,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. AE Wealth Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Transocean by 25.7% during the third quarter. AE Wealth Management LLC now owns 17,289 shares of the offshore drilling services provider’s stock worth $142,000 after acquiring an additional 3,532 shares during the last quarter. Valeo Financial Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of Transocean by 12.9% during the 3rd quarter. Valeo Financial Advisors LLC now owns 23,600 shares of the offshore drilling services provider’s stock valued at $194,000 after acquiring an additional 2,700 shares during the period. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC increased its position in shares of Transocean by 8.8% in the third quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC now owns 222,448 shares of the offshore drilling services provider’s stock valued at $1,826,000 after buying an additional 17,961 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James & Associates raised its position in Transocean by 35.1% during the third quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 381,124 shares of the offshore drilling services provider’s stock worth $3,129,000 after acquiring an additional 98,987 shares during the period. Finally, Stratos Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Transocean in the 3rd quarter valued at about $363,000. Institutional investors own 67.73% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts recently commented on RIG shares. Citigroup dropped their price target on Transocean from $9.00 to $7.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, February 21st. Bank of America upped their price objective on shares of Transocean from $5.50 to $6.00 and gave the company an “underperform” rating in a research note on Monday, April 15th. Susquehanna raised shares of Transocean from a “neutral” rating to a “positive” rating and raised their target price for the stock from $5.50 to $9.00 in a research note on Monday, April 8th. Benchmark restated a “buy” rating and issued a $8.00 price target on shares of Transocean in a research report on Tuesday. Finally, Morgan Stanley reduced their price objective on Transocean from $8.00 to $7.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, February 26th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $7.78.

Transocean Stock Down 9.1 %

RIG traded down $0.53 during trading hours on Tuesday, hitting $5.29. 21,835,967 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 17,849,373. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $5.73 and a 200 day moving average of $5.98. The firm has a market cap of $4.34 billion, a P/E ratio of -4.15 and a beta of 2.77. The company has a current ratio of 1.52, a quick ratio of 1.22 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.68. Transocean Ltd. has a 12-month low of $4.45 and a 12-month high of $8.88.

Transocean (NYSE:RIG) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Monday, April 29th. The offshore drilling services provider reported ($0.03) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.13) by $0.10. Transocean had a negative return on equity of 7.13% and a negative net margin of 33.69%. The business had revenue of $767.00 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $781.86 million. During the same period last year, the firm earned ($0.38) earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 18.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts predict that Transocean Ltd. will post 0.05 EPS for the current fiscal 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.