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

Transocean Ltd. (NYSE:RIG) saw some unusual options trading on Thursday. Investors purchased 105,437 call options on the company. This is an increase of 149% compared to the typical volume of 42,422 call options.

Insider Activity at Transocean

In related news, EVP Roderick James Mackenzie sold 78,370 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $6.36, for a total transaction of $498,433.20. Following the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 268,025 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,704,639. This represents a 22.62% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Keelan Adamson sold 58,687 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $5.00, for a total transaction of $293,435.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 1,222,182 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,110,910. The trade was a 4.58% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 159,903 shares of company stock worth $906,098. Insiders own 12.27% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in RIG. Dalal Street LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Transocean in the 3rd quarter worth $76,260,000. Ghisallo Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in Transocean during the third quarter worth about $57,720,000. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in Transocean by 19.3% during the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 94,519,248 shares of the offshore drilling services provider’s stock worth $294,900,000 after purchasing an additional 15,315,289 shares during the period. Zimmer Partners LP acquired a new position in Transocean in the 3rd quarter valued at about $30,262,000. Finally, Barclays PLC grew its stake in shares of Transocean by 230.6% in the 4th quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 10,802,664 shares of the offshore drilling services provider’s stock valued at $44,615,000 after buying an additional 7,535,041 shares during the period. 67.73% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Transocean Price Performance

Shares of RIG traded up $0.25 during trading hours on Thursday, hitting $6.50. 30,277,642 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 47,817,324. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $5.55 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $4.38. Transocean has a 12-month low of $1.97 and a 12-month high of $6.96. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64, a quick ratio of 1.27 and a current ratio of 1.56. The company has a market cap of $7.16 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -2.06 and a beta of 1.40.

Transocean (NYSE:RIG) last released its earnings results on Thursday, February 19th. The offshore drilling services provider reported $0.02 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.09 by ($0.07). The business had revenue of $1.04 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.03 billion. Transocean had a positive return on equity of 0.41% and a negative net margin of 73.52%.Transocean’s quarterly revenue was up 9.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned ($0.09) EPS. Research analysts expect that Transocean will post 0.14 earnings per share for the current year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

RIG has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Citigroup increased their price target on Transocean from $4.25 to $4.50 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 11th. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on Transocean from $4.50 to $5.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, February 23rd. Pareto Securities downgraded Transocean from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating and set a $5.25 target price for the company. in a research note on Tuesday, February 10th. Susquehanna increased their target price on Transocean from $6.50 to $7.50 and gave the company a “positive” rating in a research report on Monday, February 23rd. Finally, Weiss Ratings reissued a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Transocean in a report on Thursday, January 22nd. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have issued a Hold rating and three have assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Transocean currently has an average rating of “Reduce” and an average target price of $6.38.

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.