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

Transocean Ltd. (NYSE:RIG) was the recipient of some unusual options trading on Wednesday. Stock investors bought 69,880 call options on the company. This is an increase of approximately 85% compared to the typical daily volume of 37,748 call options.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

RIG has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Citigroup lifted their target price on Transocean from $4.25 to $4.50 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, December 11th. Fearnley Fonds lowered shares of Transocean from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Pareto Securities cut shares of Transocean from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating and set a $5.25 price objective for the company. in a research note on Tuesday. BTIG Research increased their target price on shares of Transocean from $6.00 to $10.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. reissued an “underweight” rating on shares of Transocean in a report on Wednesday, December 10th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, three have assigned a Hold rating and three have issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Transocean has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $5.22.

Transocean Trading Up 0.2%

Shares of RIG opened at $6.02 on Friday. Transocean has a 1-year low of $1.97 and a 1-year high of $6.13. The company has a market capitalization of $6.63 billion, a P/E ratio of -1.83 and a beta of 1.46. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.60, a current ratio of 1.08 and a quick ratio of 0.91. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $4.51 and its 200 day simple moving average is $3.82.

More Transocean News

Here are the key news stories impacting Transocean this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Scale-transforming acquisition — Transocean agreed to buy Valaris in an all‑stock deal (~$5.8B) that creates a much larger, higher‑spec offshore contractor with a ~73‑rig fleet, ~$10B backlog and management‑estimated >$200M of annual cost synergies; the combination should improve pricing power, diversify cash flow and reduce leverage risk. Read More.
• Positive Sentiment: New contract backlog — Transocean announced ~$184M of firm backlog from two harsh‑environment semisubmersible fixtures in Norway (extensions that push work into 2027). These add visible, near‑term revenue and reinforce the company’s positioning in higher‑spec, higher‑margin work. Read More.
• Positive Sentiment: Analyst/upside signals — BTIG raised its price target to $10, and Zacks highlights expectations for earnings growth ahead of the company’s next report, both of which support shorter‑term bullishness and expectations for an earnings beat. Read More. Read More.
• Positive Sentiment: Bullish options flow — Unusually large call buying (≈69,880 calls, ~85% above average) signals speculative optimism or hedging ahead of the M&A/earnings cadence, often amplifying near‑term upside momentum.
• Neutral Sentiment: Investor communications — Management hosted an M&A call (transcript and slide deck available) giving more detail on the Valaris deal; useful for modeling synergies and pro‑forma capital structure but not new news in itself. Read More.
• Negative Sentiment: Analyst downgrade and mixed street views — Fearnley Fonds cut RIG from “strong‑buy” to “hold,” and some prior Street sentiment remains cautious (median recent price targets lower than the stock’s intraday level), which could cap upside if consolidation concerns persist.
• Negative Sentiment: Insider sales and active repositioning — Recent insider sales and mixed institutional moves (large buys by some funds but notable portfolio reductions by others) add ambiguity about near‑term conviction and could create selling pressure around any disappointing headlines. Read More.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Perestroika purchased 1,500,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 24th. The stock was bought at an average price of $4.02 per share, for a total transaction of $6,030,000.00. Following the purchase, the director owned 96,574,894 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $388,231,073.88. The trade was a 1.58% increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, EVP Roderick James Mackenzie sold 35,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, December 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $4.48, for a total value of $156,800.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president owned 212,072 shares in the company, valued at $950,082.56. This represents a 14.17% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 712,970 shares of company stock worth $3,152,132. 12.27% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in RIG. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC lifted its stake in Transocean by 12.1% during the first quarter. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC now owns 69,637 shares of the offshore drilling services provider’s stock worth $221,000 after purchasing an additional 7,520 shares during the last quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. raised its holdings in shares of Transocean by 4.6% during the 1st quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 434,031 shares of the offshore drilling services provider’s stock valued at $1,376,000 after buying an additional 18,957 shares in the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Transocean by 88.9% during the 1st quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 12,151,817 shares of the offshore drilling services provider’s stock valued at $38,521,000 after buying an additional 5,719,637 shares in the last quarter. Vontobel Holding Ltd. lifted its position in Transocean by 18.1% in the 2nd quarter. Vontobel Holding Ltd. now owns 284,511 shares of the offshore drilling services provider’s stock worth $737,000 after buying an additional 43,662 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Blair William & Co. IL boosted its stake in Transocean by 4.7% in the second quarter. Blair William & Co. IL now owns 295,838 shares of the offshore drilling services provider’s stock worth $766,000 after buying an additional 13,199 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 67.73% of the company’s stock.

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.