Principal Financial Group Inc. Invests $383,000 in Transocean Ltd. (NYSE:RIG)

Principal Financial Group Inc. bought a new stake in Transocean Ltd. (NYSE:RIG) in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm bought 71,518 shares of the offshore drilling services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $383,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Hosking Partners LLP increased its position in shares of Transocean by 10.0% during the 2nd quarter. Hosking Partners LLP now owns 1,362,272 shares of the offshore drilling services provider’s stock worth $7,288,000 after purchasing an additional 124,253 shares during the last quarter. Arkadios Wealth Advisors acquired a new position in shares of Transocean during the 2nd quarter worth about $774,000. Sterneck Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in Transocean in the 2nd quarter valued at about $99,000. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. grew its holdings in Transocean by 44.1% during the second quarter. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. now owns 256,172 shares of the offshore drilling services provider’s stock worth $1,371,000 after purchasing an additional 78,382 shares during the period. Finally, Legato Capital Management LLC increased its position in Transocean by 14.8% during the second quarter. Legato Capital Management LLC now owns 89,785 shares of the offshore drilling services provider’s stock worth $480,000 after buying an additional 11,555 shares during the last quarter. 67.73% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have commented on RIG. DNB Markets raised shares of Transocean from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 3rd. Citigroup downgraded shares of Transocean from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday. Benchmark reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $8.00 price target on shares of Transocean in a report on Friday, August 2nd. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded Transocean to a “sell” rating in a report on Monday, August 5th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Transocean has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $7.25.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Perestroika acquired 1,500,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 12th. The stock was bought at an average price of $4.13 per share, with a total value of $6,195,000.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now directly owns 91,074,894 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $376,139,312.22. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. In related news, Director Perestroika purchased 1,500,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 12th. The stock was bought at an average price of $4.13 per share, with a total value of $6,195,000.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now owns 91,074,894 shares in the company, valued at approximately $376,139,312.22. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director (Cyprus) Ltd Perestroika acquired 2,000,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 2nd. The stock was bought at an average cost of $5.23 per share, for a total transaction of $10,460,000.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now owns 89,574,894 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $468,476,695.62. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. 13.16% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Transocean Stock Down 0.5 %

NYSE RIG opened at $4.13 on Friday. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $5.02 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $5.46. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.62 billion, a PE ratio of -7.94 and a beta of 2.79. Transocean Ltd. has a fifty-two week low of $3.85 and a fifty-two week high of $8.88. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.63, a current ratio of 1.36 and a quick ratio of 1.08.

Transocean (NYSE:RIG) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, July 31st. The offshore drilling services provider reported ($0.15) EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.08) by ($0.07). Transocean had a negative return on equity of 4.76% and a negative net margin of 11.34%. The business had revenue of $861.00 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $862.25 million. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted ($0.15) EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 18.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts expect that Transocean Ltd. will post -0.19 earnings per share 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.