Seadrill (NYSE:SDRL) Shares Gap Up Following Analyst Upgrade

Seadrill Limited (NYSE:SDRL)’s share price gapped up prior to trading on Thursday after Citigroup upgraded the stock from a sell rating to a neutral rating. The stock had previously closed at $42.40, but opened at $44.14. Citigroup now has a $46.00 price target on the stock, up from their previous price target of $32.00. Seadrill shares last traded at $44.0910, with a volume of 300,373 shares trading hands.

A number of other equities analysts also recently weighed in on the stock. Barclays upped their price target on shares of Seadrill from $39.00 to $41.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, March 2nd. Zacks Research cut Seadrill from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research report on Monday, February 16th. Weiss Ratings downgraded Seadrill from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “sell (d+)” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 6th. BWS Financial reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $80.00 price target on shares of Seadrill in a research note on Friday, January 23rd. Finally, BTIG Research lifted their price target on Seadrill from $33.00 to $40.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, January 9th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, two have assigned a Buy rating, three have assigned a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $48.00.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of SDRL. Farther Finance Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Seadrill by 19.7% in the third quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 2,086 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $63,000 after purchasing an additional 343 shares in the last quarter. Amica Retiree Medical Trust lifted its position in shares of Seadrill by 13.7% in the third quarter. Amica Retiree Medical Trust now owns 2,942 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $89,000 after buying an additional 355 shares during the last quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Seadrill by 11.7% in the third quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 4,615 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $139,000 after buying an additional 484 shares during the last quarter. Osaic Holdings Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Seadrill by 18.8% during the 2nd quarter. Osaic Holdings Inc. now owns 3,521 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $92,000 after acquiring an additional 558 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Alliancebernstein L.P. increased its holdings in shares of Seadrill by 1.0% during the 3rd quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 72,020 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $2,176,000 after acquiring an additional 700 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 95.67% of the company’s stock.

Seadrill Stock Performance

The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $39.06 and a 200 day moving average price of $33.97. The company has a current ratio of 2.03, a quick ratio of 1.89 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21. The firm has a market cap of $2.62 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -33.87 and a beta of 1.45.

Seadrill (NYSE:SDRL) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, February 25th. The oil and gas company reported $0.12 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.07 by $0.05. The firm had revenue of $362.00 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $335.36 million. Seadrill had a negative return on equity of 2.07% and a negative net margin of 5.36%. As a group, analysts predict that Seadrill Limited will post 1.86 earnings per share for the current 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.