Madison Investment Advisors LLC Makes New $11.16 Million Investment in Transocean Ltd. (NYSE:RIG)

Madison Investment Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Transocean Ltd. (NYSE:RIG) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 2,975,000 shares of the offshore drilling services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $11,156,000. Madison Investment Advisors LLC owned approximately 0.34% of Transocean as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Blue Trust Inc. increased its holdings in 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 in the last quarter. Adero Partners LLC purchased a new position in shares of Transocean in the 4th quarter worth approximately $38,000. Stratos Wealth Partners LTD. purchased a new position in shares of Transocean in the 4th quarter worth approximately $40,000. R Squared Ltd purchased a new position in shares of Transocean in the 4th quarter worth approximately $41,000. Finally, Transcend Capital Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Transocean in the 4th quarter worth approximately $41,000. 67.73% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Transocean Trading Down 1.4 %

NYSE:RIG opened at $3.20 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $2.81 billion, a P/E ratio of -4.38, a P/E/G ratio of 0.86 and a beta of 2.72. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $3.49 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $3.93. Transocean Ltd. has a 1 year low of $2.55 and a 1 year high of $6.88. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.60, a current ratio of 1.47 and a quick ratio of 1.34.

Transocean (NYSE:RIG) last posted its earnings results on Monday, February 17th. The offshore drilling services provider reported ($0.09) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.02 by ($0.11). The company had revenue of $952.00 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $962.28 million. Transocean had a negative return on equity of 0.52% and a negative net margin of 14.53%. As a group, analysts expect that Transocean Ltd. will post 0.14 EPS for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Transocean

In related news, EVP Roderick James Mackenzie sold 22,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $3.85, for a total value of $84,700.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 313,072 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,205,327.20. This trade represents a 6.57 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Insiders own 13.16% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on RIG. Evercore ISI downgraded Transocean from an “outperform” rating to an “in-line” rating and cut their target price for the stock from $6.00 to $5.00 in a research note on Wednesday, January 15th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded Transocean from an “underweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $5.00 target price on the stock in a research note on Friday, December 6th. TD Cowen cut their target price on Transocean from $6.50 to $5.50 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, January 8th. SEB Equity Research set a $2.80 price objective on Transocean in a research note on Wednesday, March 5th. Finally, Barclays dropped their price objective on Transocean from $4.50 to $4.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, February 25th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $5.23.

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.