Stock Traders Buy Large Volume of Put Options on Transocean (NYSE:RIG)

Transocean Ltd. (NYSE:RIG - Get Free Report) saw unusually large options trading on Friday. Stock investors purchased 20,324 put options on the company. This represents an increase of approximately 32% compared to the average daily volume of 15,440 put options.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages recently commented on RIG. Barclays dropped their price target on Transocean from $4.50 to $4.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, February 25th. Evercore ISI cut Transocean from an "outperform" rating to an "in-line" rating and dropped their price objective for the company from $6.00 to $5.00 in a research note on Wednesday, January 15th. StockNews.com upgraded Transocean to a "sell" rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 12th. TD Cowen cut their target price on Transocean from $6.50 to $5.50 and set a "hold" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, January 8th. Finally, Benchmark reaffirmed a "hold" rating on shares of Transocean in a research note on Tuesday, December 3rd. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Transocean has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $5.75.

Transocean Trading Down 9.5 %

Shares of NYSE RIG traded down $0.28 during midday trading on Monday, reaching $2.67. 62,225,651 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 29,394,951. The company has a market capitalization of $2.35 billion, a P/E ratio of -3.66, a P/E/G ratio of 0.86 and a beta of 2.70. The company has a current ratio of 1.47, a quick ratio of 1.34 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.60. Transocean has a 52-week low of $2.65 and a 52-week high of $6.88. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $3.74 and a 200-day moving average price of $4.12.

Transocean (NYSE:RIG - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Monday, February 17th. The offshore drilling services provider reported ($0.09) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.02 by ($0.11). The company had revenue of $952.00 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $962.28 million. Transocean had a negative return on equity of 0.52% and a negative net margin of 14.53%. Equities research analysts expect that Transocean will post 0.14 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Transocean news, EVP Roderick James Mackenzie sold 22,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $3.85, for a total transaction of $84,700.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 313,072 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,205,327.20. This represents a 6.57 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 13.16% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Transocean

Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Twin Tree Management LP purchased a new position in Transocean in the 4th quarter worth approximately $27,000. Optiver Holding B.V. raised its holdings in shares of Transocean by 53.6% during the fourth quarter. Optiver Holding B.V. now owns 8,400 shares of the offshore drilling services provider's stock worth $32,000 after purchasing an additional 2,933 shares during the period. Blue Trust Inc. lifted its holdings in Transocean by 96.2% in the fourth quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 9,841 shares of the offshore drilling services provider's stock worth $37,000 after acquiring an additional 4,826 shares during the last quarter. Adero Partners LLC bought a new position in Transocean during the 4th quarter worth $38,000. Finally, Stratos Wealth Partners LTD. acquired a new position in Transocean during the 4th quarter valued at about $40,000. 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.