Seadrill (NYSE:SDRL) Sees Unusually-High Trading Volume – Should You Buy?

Seadrill Limited (NYSE:SDRL) shares saw unusually-strong trading volume on Thursday . Approximately 712,873 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 12% from the previous session’s volume of 814,488 shares.The stock last traded at $46.2190 and had previously closed at $46.59.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have weighed in on SDRL. Weiss Ratings reissued a “sell (d+)” rating on shares of Seadrill in a research note on Tuesday, June 30th. Fearnley Fonds upgraded Seadrill from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 12th. Barclays raised Seadrill from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and increased their price target for the company from $41.00 to $59.00 in a report on Thursday, May 7th. Capital One Financial set a $55.00 price objective on Seadrill and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 1st. Finally, BWS Financial restated a “buy” rating and issued a $80.00 target price on shares of Seadrill in a report on Tuesday, August 11th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, three have assigned a Buy rating, two have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $55.00.

Seadrill Stock Down 1.6%

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26, a current ratio of 2.50 and a quick ratio of 2.50. The company has a market capitalization of $2.98 billion, a PE ratio of 1,586.33 and a beta of 1.21. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $43.10 and its 200 day simple moving average is $44.90.

Seadrill (NYSE:SDRL) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Monday, August 10th. The oil and gas company reported $0.47 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.29 by $0.18. The business had revenue of $430.00 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $388.46 million. Seadrill had a net margin of 0.07% and a return on equity of 0.64%. As a group, analysts anticipate that Seadrill Limited will post 0.37 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Seadrill

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in SDRL. Russell Investments Group Ltd. lifted its stake in shares of Seadrill by 23.1% in the 2nd quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 38,538 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $1,012,000 after purchasing an additional 7,233 shares during the last quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Seadrill during the 2nd quarter worth about $42,000. Federated Hermes Inc. increased its position in shares of Seadrill by 394,614.3% during the 2nd quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 221,040 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $5,802,000 after purchasing an additional 220,984 shares during the last quarter. Cerity Partners LLC purchased a new stake in Seadrill in the 2nd quarter valued at about $696,000. Finally, Sei Investments Co. purchased a new stake in Seadrill in the 2nd quarter valued at about $375,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 95.67% of the company’s stock.

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.