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

Transocean Ltd. (NYSE:RIG) was the target of unusually large options trading activity on Tuesday. Stock investors acquired 82,690 call options on the company. This is an increase of 248% compared to the typical volume of 23,731 call options.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts have issued reports on the stock. Fearnley Fonds upgraded shares of Transocean from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, August 7th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Transocean in a report on Thursday, October 15th. Barclays cut their price objective on shares of Transocean from $8.00 to $7.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, August 12th. Morgan Stanley reduced their price objective on shares of Transocean from $7.00 to $6.50 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday. Finally, Zacks Research lowered shares of Transocean from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, November 6th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, three have assigned a Buy rating, five have issued a Hold rating and three have issued a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $6.61.

Transocean Stock Performance

NYSE:RIG opened at $5.32 on Thursday. The stock has a market cap of $5.94 billion, a P/E ratio of 37.96, a PEG ratio of 3.53 and a beta of 1.44. Transocean has a 1-year low of $3.68 and a 1-year high of $7.66. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.54, a current ratio of 1.53 and a quick ratio of 1.24. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $5.70 and a two-hundred day moving average of $5.87.

Transocean (NYSE:RIG) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Monday, November 2nd. The offshore drilling services provider reported $0.02 EPS for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $0.02. Transocean had a net margin of 7.25% and a return on equity of 1.84%. The business had revenue of $937.00 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $943.99 million. During the same quarter last year, the company posted ($2.00) earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 8.9% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts expect that Transocean will post 0.20 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Trading of Transocean

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. acquired a new stake in Transocean in the second quarter worth $37,477,000. Arlington Capital Management Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Transocean in the 2nd quarter worth about $2,613,000. Elliott Investment Management L.P. acquired a new position in Transocean during the 1st quarter valued at about $103,606,000. Ninepoint Partners LP acquired a new position in Transocean during the 2nd quarter valued at about $34,230,000. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its position in Transocean by 12.3% in the 1st quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 48,819,576 shares of the offshore drilling services provider’s stock worth $323,682,000 after purchasing an additional 5,349,264 shares during the last quarter. 67.73% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Transocean Company Profile

Transocean Ltd. is an offshore contract drilling company that provides drilling services to oil and gas companies around the world. Its work focuses on offshore exploration and development, particularly in deepwater and harsh-environment locations. The company owns and operates a fleet of offshore drilling rigs, including drillships and semisubmersible rigs. It contracts these rigs to customers and provides the crews and related services needed to conduct offshore drilling operations. Transocean serves customers across multiple offshore regions worldwide.