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Unusual Options Activity: United Parcel Service (UPS)

Unusual Options Activity: United Parcel Service (UPS)

Trader bets on further decline on coronavirus pandemic.  With the global economy set to slow thanks to the coronavirus, traders are hedging their bets. One is betting that United Parcel Service (UPS) will continued to decline from here. That’s based on the 15-fold rise in volume on the April $97.50 put options. From 320 open contracts, over 4,900 recently traded hands. The bet expires in 51 days. It is less than one dollar out-of-the-money thanks to the current share price just over $98.30. Any further weakness in shares will move the option in-the-money. The trader paid about $3.60 fo...
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Insider Trading Reports: Bunge (BG)

Insider Trading Reports: Bunge (BG)

CEO and director add to insiders picking up shares here. Gregory Heckman, CEO at Bunge (BG) recently bought 37,180 shares. That buy increased his holdings by nearly 40 percent. The cost of the purchase came to just under $2 million. He was joined by director Erik Fyrwald, who bought 3,750 shares. His total buy came to just under $200,000, and he increased his holdings by nearly 55 percent. This comes on top of insider buying by the company CFO in the prior week. Shares of the agribusiness giant are now flat over the past year. Insiders have turned from modest sellers in 2017 to sizeable ...
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Insider Activity Report: Enterprise Products Partners (EPD)

Insider Activity Report: Enterprise Products Partners (EPD)

Major owner continues to add to stake.Randall Williams, a major holder and director at Enterprise Products Partners (EPD), continues to add to his stake. In February, he has bought in 50,000 share increments on 13 different trading days. That’s a total of 650,000 shares. Each daily buy of this nature costs just over $1.3 million. Insider data shows these buys are dwarfing all prior buys and sells in the past few years at the company. Considering the existing stake in shares, the buy may be because of a perceived weakness in shares, or in the expectation of an event like a buyout or acquisit...
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Unusual Options Activity: Gilead Sciences (GILD)

Unusual Options Activity: Gilead Sciences (GILD)

Trader bets on rally through April.April 3rd call options with a $70 strike on Gilead Sciences (GILD) recently saw an 18-fold rise in volume, going from 117 open contracts to over 2,100 trade hands. The bet, expiring in 38 days, is that shares will head higher. As shares are around $69.50, the bet is almost at-the-money, and could move dollar-for-dollar higher with shares. The buyer of the option paid about $2.71 per contract, so shares would need to get over $72.70 at expiration for the buyer to profit. Shares have traded as high as $71.19 in the past year, meaning the trader expects share...
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Unusual Options Activity: Barrick Gold (GOLD)

March 27th $22 call options onBarrick Gold (GOLD) saw a 32-fold rise in volume lately, going from 103 open contracts to nearly 3,300. The bet, expiring in 32 days, will move in-the-money if shares rise just over $1.15 from their current price, or about 5.5 percent higher. The buyer of the options also paid about $0.38, or $38 per contract to make the trade. They’ll need to see shares move 7.3 percent higher in the next month. The interest in gold continues after the metal posted a strong year in 2019, and as coronavirus fears sweep around the world. As one of the major gold miners, Ba...
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Insider Trading Reports: Bunge (BG)

Insider Trading Reports: Bunge (BG)

Chief Legal Officer makes $800,000 buy.Joseph Podwika, Chief Legal Officer atBunge (BG), recently picked up 15,000 shares. The buy came to just over $800,000, and represents a new position for the insider. This marks the first insider trade of the year. In 2019, insiders were active, with one sale of nearly 1,800 shares, but insider buys of over 300,000 shares. Looking back further, insiders were sellers in 2017, at far higher share prices and in smaller amounts. Bunge, a global agribusiness company, has seen shares rise just 2 percent in the past year. Shares are down 6.3 percent sin...
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Unusual Options Activity: 3M (MMM)

March 13th 2020 call options with a strike price of $167.50 on3M (MMM) recently saw a 40-fold rise in volume. From 220 open contracts, over 8,800 traded hands. The bet, expiring in 21 days, is that shares will rally from here. The strike price of the option is about 5.1 percent higher than the current share price. The buyer of the option also paid about $0.98 per contract, so shares would need to clear $168.50 at expiration to profit. Shares of the diversified manufacturing company have been out of favor with the market in the past year, with a 23 percent decline. Shares are down abou...
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Two Heavily Shorted Stocks to Consider Trading Now

Two Heavily Shorted Stocks to Consider Trading Now

1 2Heavily shorted stocks are susceptible to large rallies, even if their fundamentals don’t justify them.Shares ofTesla Motors (TSLA) have nearly quadrupled in the past six months. While it may be a bit late to get in at a reasonable price there, the fact remains that the company was controversial. Some saw the move as overdue, and others think the move is crazy. One way to tell that there was this controversy was with the company’s short interest. Stocks with high short interest can be prone to big moves higher. Why does a heavily shorted company suddenly shoot higher? It has to do...
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Unusual Options Activity: Teva Pharmaceuticals (TEVA)

Put options expiring in April with a $10 strike price onTeva Pharmaceuticals (TEVA) saw a nearly-10-fold rise in volume. The option went from under 700 contracts to over 6,800. The bet, expiring in 57 days, is just over 20 percent out-of-the-money, as shares trade just over $12. The buyer of the put option also paid about $0.35 per contract, so shares would need to drop to about $9.65 to profit at expiration. Shares of the pharmaceutical giant have dropped 32 percent in the past year. The company also reported a loss in the past year and is expected to trade at 5 times forward earning...
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Unusual Options Activity: Paypal (PYPL)

February 28th $123 call options onPaypal (PYPL) recently saw a 44-fold rise in volume. Over 7,010 contracts traded against a prior open interest of 161. The bet, expiring in 10 days, is right at-the-money, given a recent share price of $122.99. It should move dollar-for-dollar upward with shares, less the time premium. The buyer of these options paid about $2.00 each, so shares will need to hit $125 by the end of the month to profit. Shares of the alternative payment company have risen 27 percent in the last year, beating the overall S&P 500 index by about 5 points.Action to take:...
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