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

Transocean Ltd. (NYSE:RIG - Get Free Report) saw unusually large options trading activity on Monday. Stock traders acquired 30,706 call options on the company. This is an increase of 95% compared to the average daily volume of 15,725 call options.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

RIG has been the subject of several analyst reports. Morgan Stanley decreased their price target on shares of Transocean from $4.00 to $3.50 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research report on Friday, May 16th. Susquehanna decreased their price target on shares of Transocean from $5.00 to $4.00 and set a "positive" rating for the company in a research report on Monday, April 14th. Barclays decreased their price target on shares of Transocean from $4.00 to $3.50 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Monday, April 7th. SEB Equity Research set a $2.80 price target on shares of Transocean in a research report on Wednesday, March 5th. Finally, BTIG Research set a $5.00 price target on shares of Transocean and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Monday, May 5th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $4.58.

Transocean Stock Performance

Transocean stock traded down $0.01 during mid-day trading on Thursday, reaching $2.64. 33,013,246 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 28,944,949. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.58, a current ratio of 1.33 and a quick ratio of 1.06. Transocean has a fifty-two week low of $1.97 and a fifty-two week high of $5.98. The company has a market capitalization of $2.33 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -2.77, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.74 and a beta of 2.54. The firm's fifty day moving average is $2.62 and its two-hundred day moving average is $3.12.

Transocean (NYSE:RIG - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Monday, April 28th. The offshore drilling services provider reported ($0.10) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of ($0.12) by $0.02. Transocean had a negative net margin of 18.79% and a negative return on equity of 0.94%. The business had revenue of $906.00 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $884.92 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted ($0.03) EPS. Transocean's revenue for the quarter was up 18.7% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts expect that Transocean will post 0.14 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, EVP Roderick James Mackenzie sold 22,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $2.78, for a total value of $61,160.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 340,841 shares of the company's stock, valued at $947,537.98. This represents a 6.06% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 12.27% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of RIG. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in Transocean by 1.2% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 78,811,863 shares of the offshore drilling services provider's stock worth $295,544,000 after buying an additional 931,684 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its position in Transocean by 1.6% during the 1st quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 40,660,439 shares of the offshore drilling services provider's stock worth $128,894,000 after buying an additional 651,843 shares during the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. raised its position in Transocean by 10.9% during the 1st quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 21,348,095 shares of the offshore drilling services provider's stock worth $67,673,000 after buying an additional 2,090,658 shares during the last quarter. Keybank National Association OH raised its position in Transocean by 14.2% during the 1st quarter. Keybank National Association OH now owns 13,480,351 shares of the offshore drilling services provider's stock worth $42,733,000 after buying an additional 1,672,958 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its position in Transocean by 7.4% during the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 12,465,534 shares of the offshore drilling services provider's stock worth $46,746,000 after buying an additional 859,214 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.