Transocean Sees Unusually Large Options Volume (NYSE:RIG)

Transocean Ltd. (NYSE:RIG) was the recipient of unusually large options trading activity on Wednesday. Traders acquired 48,558 call options on the company. This represents an increase of 51% compared to the average volume of 32,187 call options.

Insider Activity at Transocean

In other Transocean news, CEO Keelan Adamson sold 57,968 shares of Transocean stock in a transaction on Friday, December 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $4.50, for a total value of $260,856.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 1,303,715 shares in the company, valued at $5,866,717.50. The trade was a 4.26% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Perestroika acquired 1,500,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 24th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $4.02 per share, with a total value of $6,030,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 96,574,894 shares in the company, valued at approximately $388,231,073.88. The trade was a 1.58% increase in their position. The SEC filing for this purchase provides additional information. Insiders have sold 726,148 shares of company stock worth $3,115,783 in the last 90 days. 12.54% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Transocean

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Transocean by 19.3% during the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 94,519,248 shares of the offshore drilling services provider’s stock valued at $294,900,000 after purchasing an additional 15,315,289 shares during the period. American Century Companies Inc. boosted its stake in Transocean by 12.8% during the third quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 26,456,554 shares of the offshore drilling services provider’s stock valued at $82,544,000 after buying an additional 3,006,786 shares in the last quarter. Dalal Street LLC acquired a new position in Transocean during the third quarter worth about $76,260,000. Two Sigma Investments LP lifted its holdings in Transocean by 0.3% in the 3rd quarter. Two Sigma Investments LP now owns 18,636,188 shares of the offshore drilling services provider’s stock valued at $58,145,000 after acquiring an additional 64,305 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Ghisallo Capital Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Transocean during the 3rd quarter valued at about $57,720,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 67.73% of the company’s stock.

Transocean Trading Up 7.3%

RIG stock traded up $0.32 during trading on Wednesday, reaching $4.62. 25,555,447 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 31,018,250. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $4.18 and its 200-day moving average price is $3.55. The firm has a market capitalization of $5.08 billion, a PE ratio of -1.41 and a beta of 1.36. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.60, a current ratio of 1.08 and a quick ratio of 0.91. Transocean has a 52-week low of $1.97 and a 52-week high of $4.65.

Transocean (NYSE:RIG) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, October 29th. The offshore drilling services provider reported $0.06 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.04 by $0.02. Transocean had a positive return on equity of 0.45% and a negative net margin of 75.71%.The company had revenue of ($1,894.00) million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.01 billion. The company’s revenue was up 8.4% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Transocean will post 0.14 earnings per share for the current year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Morgan Stanley set a $4.50 price objective on Transocean in a research report on Monday, December 15th. Susquehanna upped their price target on Transocean from $4.50 to $5.00 and gave the company a “positive” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 7th. Barclays increased their price target on shares of Transocean from $4.00 to $4.50 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 5th. Citigroup upped their target price on shares of Transocean from $4.25 to $4.50 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, December 11th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. reiterated an “underweight” rating on shares of Transocean in a research note on Wednesday, December 10th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, two have given a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $4.38.

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.