Seadrill Limited (NYSE:SDRL) Given Consensus Recommendation of “Hold” by Brokerages

Seadrill Limited (NYSE:SDRL) has been given an average rating of “Hold” by the eight research firms that are presently covering the stock, Marketbeat.com reports. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell recommendation, three have given a hold recommendation, two have issued a buy recommendation and one has given a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 1-year price objective among brokers that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $43.40.

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Barclays lowered their price target on shares of Seadrill from $33.00 to $32.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, November 10th. BWS Financial reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $80.00 target price on shares of Seadrill in a report on Wednesday, December 17th. Zacks Research upgraded shares of Seadrill from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, January 1st. Citigroup cut Seadrill from a “neutral” rating to a “sell” rating and decreased their price objective for the company from $35.00 to $32.00 in a report on Monday. Finally, BTIG Research increased their price objective on Seadrill from $33.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, January 9th.

Institutional Trading of Seadrill

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of SDRL. Fluent Financial LLC acquired a new position in Seadrill in the fourth quarter valued at about $2,360,000. SG Americas Securities LLC raised its stake in shares of Seadrill by 70.5% in the 4th quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 12,289 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $425,000 after acquiring an additional 5,083 shares during the period. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC acquired a new position in shares of Seadrill in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $61,000. CIBC Bancorp USA Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Seadrill during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $202,000. Finally, Sig Brokerage LP increased its holdings in Seadrill by 44.5% in the 3rd quarter. Sig Brokerage LP now owns 29,414 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $889,000 after purchasing an additional 9,056 shares during the last quarter. 95.67% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Seadrill Price Performance

NYSE:SDRL opened at $35.21 on Thursday. Seadrill has a one year low of $17.74 and a one year high of $39.04. The stock has a market cap of $2.20 billion, a PE ratio of 76.55 and a beta of 1.54. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21, a quick ratio of 1.89 and a current ratio of 1.89. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $32.01 and a 200 day moving average price of $31.05.

Seadrill (NYSE:SDRL) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, November 5th. The oil and gas company reported ($0.17) earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.26 by ($0.43). Seadrill had a return on equity of 0.10% and a net margin of 2.49%.The company had revenue of $363.00 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $343.56 million. Equities research analysts expect that Seadrill will post 1.86 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Seadrill Company Profile

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.