Transocean Sees Unusually High Options Volume (NYSE:RIG)

Transocean Ltd. (NYSE:RIG) was the recipient of unusually large options trading activity on Monday. Stock investors purchased 80,777 call options on the stock. This represents an increase of 69% compared to the typical volume of 47,808 call options.

Insider Activity at Transocean

In other news, CEO Keelan Adamson sold 58,687 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $5.00, for a total transaction of $293,435.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 1,222,182 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,110,910. This represents a 4.58% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Roderick James Mackenzie sold 35,000 shares of Transocean stock in a transaction on Wednesday, December 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $4.48, for a total transaction of $156,800.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 212,072 shares in the company, valued at approximately $950,082.56. The trade was a 14.17% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders sold a total of 182,970 shares of company stock valued at $863,432 over the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 12.27% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Transocean

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. TD Waterhouse Canada Inc. grew its position in Transocean by 22,432.1% in the fourth quarter. TD Waterhouse Canada Inc. now owns 6,309 shares of the offshore drilling services provider’s stock valued at $26,000 after purchasing an additional 6,281 shares in the last quarter. Flagship Harbor Advisors LLC bought a new position in Transocean in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Benedict Financial Advisors Inc. bought a new position in shares of Transocean in the 3rd quarter valued at about $31,000. Vestmark Advisory Solutions Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Transocean in the 3rd quarter valued at about $31,000. Finally, Forteris Wealth Management Inc. bought a new position in Transocean during the fourth quarter worth about $41,000. 67.73% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Transocean Trading Down 3.6%

Shares of RIG traded down $0.24 during trading hours on Monday, reaching $6.25. The stock had a trading volume of 36,295,190 shares, compared to its average volume of 50,868,664. The company has a market cap of $6.89 billion, a P/E ratio of -1.98 and a beta of 1.46. Transocean has a 52 week low of $1.97 and a 52 week high of $6.96. The company has a quick ratio of 1.27, a current ratio of 1.56 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $5.00 and a 200 day moving average of $4.10.

Transocean (NYSE:RIG) last posted 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). Transocean had a negative net margin of 73.52% and a positive return on equity of 0.41%. The business had revenue of $1.04 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.03 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted ($0.09) earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 9.6% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Transocean will post 0.14 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on RIG shares. Morgan Stanley increased their price target on Transocean from $4.50 to $5.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, February 23rd. Weiss Ratings restated a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Transocean in a research note on Thursday, January 22nd. Pareto Securities lowered Transocean from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating and set a $5.25 price target for the company. in a report on Tuesday, February 10th. Citigroup increased their price objective on Transocean from $4.25 to $4.50 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, December 11th. Finally, Barclays downgraded shares of Transocean from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $4.50 to $6.00 in a research report on Wednesday, February 18th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have assigned a Hold rating and three have given a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Reduce” and a consensus price target of $5.86.

About Transocean

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.