Transocean Sees Unusually Large Options Volume (NYSE:RIG)

Transocean Ltd. (NYSE:RIG) was the target of some unusual options trading activity on Wednesday. Stock traders bought 48,558 call options on the stock. This is an increase of 51% compared to the average daily volume of 32,187 call options.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on RIG. Barclays upped their price target on shares of Transocean from $4.00 to $4.50 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 5th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Transocean in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reaffirmed an “underweight” rating on shares of Transocean in a research report on Wednesday, December 10th. Morgan Stanley set a $4.50 price objective on Transocean in a report on Monday, December 15th. Finally, Susquehanna increased their price target on shares of Transocean from $4.50 to $5.00 and gave the stock a “positive” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 7th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, two have assigned a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Transocean has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $4.38.

Insider Activity

In other Transocean news, CEO Keelan Adamson sold 57,968 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, December 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $4.50, for a total value of $260,856.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 1,303,715 shares in the company, valued at $5,866,717.50. This trade represents a 4.26% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, Director Perestroika acquired 1,500,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, November 24th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $4.02 per share, for a total transaction of $6,030,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 96,574,894 shares in the company, valued at approximately $388,231,073.88. This represents a 1.58% increase in their position. The SEC filing for this purchase provides additional information. Insiders sold a total of 726,148 shares of company stock valued at $3,115,783 in the last ninety days. 12.54% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Transocean

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in RIG. Quantbot Technologies LP raised its holdings in shares of Transocean by 382.4% in the 2nd quarter. Quantbot Technologies LP now owns 1,046,818 shares of the offshore drilling services provider’s stock worth $2,711,000 after acquiring an additional 829,802 shares during the last quarter. 180 Wealth Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Transocean by 69.3% during the 2nd quarter. 180 Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 276,851 shares of the offshore drilling services provider’s stock worth $717,000 after purchasing an additional 113,320 shares in the last quarter. Jump Financial LLC raised its stake in shares of Transocean by 288.1% in the second quarter. Jump Financial LLC now owns 5,780,571 shares of the offshore drilling services provider’s stock worth $14,972,000 after purchasing an additional 4,290,971 shares during the last quarter. Creative Planning lifted its holdings in shares of Transocean by 89.6% in the second quarter. Creative Planning now owns 1,072,043 shares of the offshore drilling services provider’s stock valued at $2,777,000 after purchasing an additional 506,624 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Transocean by 1.8% during the second quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 18,095,187 shares of the offshore drilling services provider’s stock valued at $46,873,000 after buying an additional 313,670 shares during the last quarter. 67.73% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Transocean Stock Up 7.3%

RIG traded up $0.32 on Wednesday, hitting $4.62. 25,555,447 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 31,018,250. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $4.18 and its 200-day moving average is $3.55. Transocean has a 12 month low of $1.97 and a 12 month high of $4.65. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.60, a quick ratio of 0.91 and a current ratio of 1.08. The company has a market cap of $5.08 billion, a PE ratio of -1.41 and a beta of 1.36.

Transocean (NYSE:RIG) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 29th. The offshore drilling services provider reported $0.06 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.04 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of ($1,894.00) million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.01 billion. Transocean had a negative net margin of 75.71% and a positive return on equity of 0.45%. Transocean’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.4% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts predict that Transocean will post 0.14 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Transocean Company Profile

Transocean Ltd. is a leading international provider of offshore contract drilling services for the oil and gas industry. The company specializes in the operation of mobile drilling units, including ultra-deepwater drillships, semisubmersible rigs and high-specification jackup rigs. Transocean’s fleet is designed to meet complex drilling requirements, from ultra-deepwater well construction to shelf exploration and development projects.

The company’s core services encompass the full spectrum of offshore drilling operations, including project and engineering management, marine operations, drilling supervision, and maintenance support.