Transocean Target of Unusually High Options Trading (NYSE:RIG)

Transocean Ltd. (NYSE:RIG) saw unusually large options trading on Tuesday. Stock traders bought 90,439 call options on the stock. This represents an increase of approximately 192% compared to the average daily volume of 30,978 call options.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms recently commented on RIG. StockNews.com upgraded Transocean to a “sell” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 20th. Susquehanna upgraded Transocean from a “neutral” rating to a “positive” rating and boosted their target price for the company from $5.50 to $9.00 in a research report on Monday, April 8th. Benchmark restated a “buy” rating and set a $8.00 target price on shares of Transocean in a research report on Tuesday. Bank of America boosted their target price on Transocean from $5.50 to $6.00 and gave the company an “underperform” rating in a research report on Monday, April 15th. Finally, Morgan Stanley dropped their target price on Transocean from $8.00 to $7.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, February 26th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $7.78.

Transocean Stock Performance

Transocean stock opened at $5.22 on Wednesday. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $5.73 and a 200-day moving average price of $5.98. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.68, a quick ratio of 1.22 and a current ratio of 1.52. Transocean has a fifty-two week low of $4.45 and a fifty-two week high of $8.88. The company has a market capitalization of $4.27 billion, a PE ratio of -4.11 and a beta of 2.77.

Transocean (NYSE:RIG) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Monday, April 29th. The offshore drilling services provider reported ($0.03) earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.13) by $0.10. Transocean had a negative net margin of 33.69% and a negative return on equity of 7.13%. The firm had revenue of $767.00 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $781.86 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted ($0.38) earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 18.2% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Transocean will post 0.05 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Trading of Transocean

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Van ECK Associates Corp lifted its holdings in Transocean by 7.0% during the first quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 17,013,964 shares of the offshore drilling services provider’s stock worth $106,848,000 after buying an additional 1,105,747 shares during the period. Kailix Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Transocean during the first quarter worth $14,534,000. Narwhal Capital Management lifted its holdings in Transocean by 44.8% during the first quarter. Narwhal Capital Management now owns 160,000 shares of the offshore drilling services provider’s stock worth $1,005,000 after buying an additional 49,500 shares during the period. Muhlenkamp & Co. Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Transocean by 3.5% during the 1st quarter. Muhlenkamp & Co. Inc. now owns 1,010,498 shares of the offshore drilling services provider’s stock valued at $6,346,000 after purchasing an additional 33,740 shares during the last quarter. Finally, PFG Investments LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Transocean during the 1st quarter valued at $1,084,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 67.73% of the company’s stock.

Transocean Company Profile

Transocean Ltd., together with its subsidiaries, provides offshore contract drilling services for oil and gas wells worldwide. It contracts mobile offshore drilling rigs, related equipment, and work crews to drill oil and gas wells. The company operates a fleet of mobile offshore drilling units, consisting of ultra-deepwater floaters and harsh environment floaters.