Seadrill (NYSE:SDRL) Hits New 12-Month High – Still a Buy?

Seadrill Limited (NYSE:SDRL) reached a new 52-week high on Friday . The company traded as high as $40.35 and last traded at $39.55, with a volume of 422844 shares. The stock had previously closed at $38.04.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have recently commented on the company. Barclays boosted their price objective on Seadrill from $32.00 to $33.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 15th. Zacks Research raised shares of Seadrill from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, January 1st. Dnb Carnegie raised shares of Seadrill to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 4th. Citigroup lowered shares of Seadrill from a “neutral” rating to a “sell” rating and dropped their target price for the company from $35.00 to $32.00 in a research report on Monday, January 12th. Finally, Weiss Ratings downgraded shares of Seadrill from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “sell (d+)” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 6th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, two have issued a Buy rating, three have assigned a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $43.60.

Seadrill Stock Performance

The company has a market cap of $2.49 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 86.71 and a beta of 1.54. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $34.44 and its 200-day simple moving average is $31.99. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21, a quick ratio of 1.89 and a current ratio of 1.89.

Seadrill (NYSE:SDRL) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, November 5th. The oil and gas company reported ($0.17) earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.26 by ($0.43). The business had revenue of $363.00 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $343.56 million. Seadrill had a return on equity of 0.10% and a net margin of 2.49%. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Seadrill Limited will post 1.86 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Farther Finance Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of 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 valued at $63,000 after purchasing an additional 343 shares during the last quarter. Amica Retiree Medical Trust grew its holdings in Seadrill by 13.7% in the 3rd quarter. Amica Retiree Medical Trust now owns 2,942 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $89,000 after buying an additional 355 shares in the last quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Seadrill by 11.7% in the 3rd quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 4,615 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $139,000 after acquiring an additional 484 shares during the last quarter. Osaic Holdings Inc. raised its holdings 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 during the period. Finally, Alliancebernstein L.P. boosted its position 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. 95.67% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About Seadrill

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.