Transocean Sees Unusually High Options Volume (NYSE:RIG)

Transocean Ltd. (NYSE:RIG) saw some unusual options trading activity on Tuesday. Investors acquired 90,439 call options on the company. This represents an increase of approximately 192% compared to the typical volume of 30,978 call options.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have commented on RIG. Citigroup dropped their target price on shares of Transocean from $9.00 to $7.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, February 21st. Susquehanna raised Transocean from a “neutral” rating to a “positive” rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $5.50 to $9.00 in a research note on Monday, April 8th. Bank of America lifted 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. Benchmark reissued a “buy” rating and set a $8.00 price target on shares of Transocean in a research report on Tuesday. Finally, Evercore ISI cut their price target on Transocean from $9.00 to $7.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $7.70.

Transocean Trading Up 0.9 %

Shares of RIG stock opened at $5.27 on Thursday. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $5.74 and its 200 day moving average is $5.96. Transocean has a 1-year low of $4.45 and a 1-year high of $8.88. The company has a quick ratio of 1.22, a current ratio of 1.35 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.65.

Transocean (NYSE:RIG) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, April 29th. The offshore drilling services provider reported ($0.03) earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.13) by $0.10. The business had revenue of $767.00 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $781.86 million. Transocean had a negative net margin of 13.27% and a negative return on equity of 4.67%. The company’s revenue was up 18.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business earned ($0.38) EPS. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Transocean will post 0.05 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Transocean

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of RIG. OLD Point Trust & Financial Services N A purchased a new stake in shares of Transocean during the 4th quarter valued at $25,000. VisionPoint Advisory Group LLC acquired a new position in Transocean during the 4th quarter valued at about $28,000. Private Trust Co. NA raised its stake in Transocean by 1,489.8% in the fourth quarter. Private Trust Co. NA now owns 8,537 shares of the offshore drilling services provider’s stock valued at $54,000 after buying an additional 8,000 shares during the last quarter. Fermata Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Transocean in the first quarter worth about $75,000. Finally, First Western Trust Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Transocean during the fourth quarter worth about $76,000. 67.73% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.