Traders Buy Large Volume of Call Options on Transocean (NYSE:RIG)

Transocean Ltd. (NYSE:RIG) saw unusually large options trading on Tuesday. Stock investors purchased 90,439 call options on the company. This represents an increase of 192% compared to the average volume of 30,978 call options.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have commented on RIG. Susquehanna upgraded shares of Transocean from a “neutral” rating to a “positive” rating and boosted their price target for the company from $5.50 to $9.00 in a research note on Monday, April 8th. Benchmark restated a “buy” rating and issued a $8.00 target price on shares of Transocean in a report on Tuesday. Morgan Stanley cut their price target on Transocean from $8.00 to $7.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, February 26th. Bank of America increased their price objective on Transocean from $5.50 to $6.00 and gave the stock an “underperform” rating in a research note on Monday, April 15th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded Transocean to a “sell” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 20th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Transocean currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $7.78.

Transocean Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE RIG traded down $0.48 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, hitting $5.34. The company had a trading volume of 38,999,344 shares, compared to its average volume of 18,063,377. The company has a current ratio of 1.52, a quick ratio of 1.22 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.68. Transocean has a 1 year low of $4.45 and a 1 year high of $8.88. The company has a market capitalization of $4.38 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -4.15 and a beta of 2.77. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $5.73 and its 200-day moving average price is $5.98.

Transocean (NYSE:RIG) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Monday, April 29th. The offshore drilling services provider reported ($0.03) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.13) by $0.10. The firm had revenue of $767.00 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $781.86 million. Transocean had a negative net margin of 33.69% and a negative return on equity of 7.13%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 18.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted ($0.38) earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Transocean will post 0.05 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. AE Wealth Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Transocean by 25.7% during the third quarter. AE Wealth Management LLC now owns 17,289 shares of the offshore drilling services provider’s stock valued at $142,000 after buying an additional 3,532 shares during the last quarter. Valeo Financial Advisors LLC grew its position in Transocean by 12.9% during the 3rd quarter. Valeo Financial Advisors LLC now owns 23,600 shares of the offshore drilling services provider’s stock worth $194,000 after acquiring an additional 2,700 shares during the last quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC increased its stake in Transocean by 8.8% in the 3rd quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC now owns 222,448 shares of the offshore drilling services provider’s stock worth $1,826,000 after purchasing an additional 17,961 shares during the period. Raymond James & Associates lifted its position in Transocean by 35.1% in the third quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 381,124 shares of the offshore drilling services provider’s stock valued at $3,129,000 after purchasing an additional 98,987 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Stratos Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Transocean in the third quarter worth approximately $363,000. 67.73% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Transocean Company Profile

Transocean Ltd., together with its subsidiaries, provides offshore contract drilling services for oil and gas wells worldwide. It contracts mobile offshore drilling rigs, related equipment, and work crews to drill oil and gas wells. The company operates a fleet of mobile offshore drilling units, consisting of ultra-deepwater floaters and harsh environment floaters.