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

Transocean Ltd. (NYSE:RIG) was the recipient of some unusual options trading on Tuesday. Stock traders acquired 82,690 call options on the company. This is an increase of 248% compared to the average daily volume of 23,731 call options.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Transocean

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of RIG. Hartford Financial Management Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Transocean during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $31,000. Costello Asset Management INC bought a new position in Transocean in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $33,000. Ascentis Independent Advisors purchased a new position in Transocean in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $43,000. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Transocean by 27.0% during the 1st quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 6,536 shares of the offshore drilling services provider’s stock valued at $43,000 after acquiring an additional 1,391 shares during the period. Finally, Root Financial Partners LLC bought a new stake in Transocean during the 3rd quarter valued at $48,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 67.73% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have weighed in on RIG. Fearnley Fonds raised Transocean from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, August 7th. Morgan Stanley decreased their price objective on Transocean from $7.00 to $6.50 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday. Wall Street Zen cut Transocean from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Saturday. Weiss Ratings restated a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Transocean in a research note on Thursday, October 15th. Finally, Zacks Research cut Transocean from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, three have given a Buy rating, five have assigned a Hold rating and three have issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $6.61.

Transocean Stock Up 1.1%

NYSE:RIG traded up $0.06 on Tuesday, hitting $5.22. The stock had a trading volume of 11,655,062 shares, compared to its average volume of 40,972,629. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $5.73 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $5.87. The stock has a market cap of $5.84 billion, a P/E ratio of 37.32, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.99 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 quick ratio of 1.27 and a current ratio of 1.53.

Transocean (NYSE:RIG) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Monday, November 2nd. The offshore drilling services provider reported $0.02 earnings per share for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $0.02. The business had revenue of $937.00 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $943.99 million. Transocean had a return on equity of 1.84% and a net margin of 7.25%. The business’s revenue was down 8.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned ($2.00) earnings per share. Analysts predict that Transocean will post 0.18 earnings per share for the current year.

About Transocean

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.