Trading Tips Blog

Shares of cable and entertainment giant Comcast (CMCSA) have been trading in a range in recent weeks. One trader sees a return to the high end of that range in the days ahead. That’s based on the June $59 calls. Expiring in 21 days, over 31,800 contracts traded, a 163-fold increase in volume from the prior open interest of 194 contracts. The buyer of the calls paid about $0.42 to make the trade. Shares of Comcast trade near $57, so the shares ...
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Farhad Nanji, a director at PennyMac Financial (PFSI) recently added 187,870 shares. The buy increased his holdings by nearly 7 percent, and came to a total purchase price of $11.7 million. This follows up from other buys from the director in the past month. Overall, company insiders have been particularly active on both sides, although total insider sales greatly outnumber insider buys. Despite the massive insider sales lately, insiders still own 49 percent of company shares. The mortgage financing company has ...
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Technology trends are already starting to shape the decade of the 2020s. This decade will be a transformative one in many ways. Fossil fuel companies are already starting to address carbon emissions. For the automotive sector, the success of Tesla Motors (TSLA) is pushing other carmakers to also offer electric vehicles as well. The market is rewarding that news with much higher share prices. Case in point? Ford Motors (F). Shares jumped to a multi-year high as the company announced it was ...
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Brian Khan, CEO of Franchise Group (FRG) recently bought 1 million shares of the company. The buy increased his holdings by 291 percent, and came to a total cost of $36 million. Insiders have been active buyers over the past year, including further purchases from the company CEO. The only insider sale in the past year occurred when a financial company with a significant stake sold off 757,000 shares. Overall, company insiders own just over 2.2 percent of shares, which are ...
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The past decade has seen the rise of economically viable forms of alternative energy. That’s occasionally spelled trouble for fossil fuel companies. Last year’s drop in oil into negative territory, fueled by traders trying to get out of a bad trade, has now become a distant memory. But the rise of socially responsible investing, now dubbed ESG for environmental, social and governance, is looking to make some big changes to big oil. The biggest potential change? Going carbon neutral. With ExxonMobil (XOM) ...
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The automotive industry had a strong year in 2020, but automotive stocks have had a rougher time in 2021 as a semiconductor shortage has shut down production for many carmakers. One trader sees the potential for a drop in General Motors (GM) in the coming weeks. That’s based on the July $57.50 puts. With 50 days until expiration, over 25,132 contracts traded against an open interest of 256, for a 98-fold rise in volume. The options are slightly in-the-money based on a ...
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A number of payments companies have started embracing cryptocurrencies in the past year, starting with Bitcoin. Some of those companies have struggled in recent weeks as the rapid moves in the cryptocurrency have had large swings in how these companies are valued. However, PayPal (PYPL) has held up more strongly than other names. That’s even as the company, along with its other division Venmo, has moved to increase its cryptocurrency trading abilities for customers in the past few months. However, right now, ...
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Pascal Desroches, a senior executive VP at AT&T (T), recently bought another 19,976 shares. The buy increased the VP’s stake by nearly 12 percent, and came to a total price just under $589,000. Company CEO John Stankey also bought 34,614 shares on the same day. The CEO paid just over $997,000 to add to his stake. Overall, insiders own just 0.1 percent of company shares. This duo of insider buys marks the first trades from company insiders since last July. Insiders ...
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