At-the-money put buying suggests dropOver 6,050 contracts traded on the November 15th, 2019 $30.50 put option on JD.com (JD). That’s a 17-fold surge in volume against the prior open interest of 354 contracts. The option has 14 days left before expiration, and shares of JD are at $31.24, so they’d still need to drop for the option to close in-the-money. Adding in the $0.80 option premium, and traders are betting on a drop under $30. The Chinese e-commerce giant often has some swings up and down, and may have just started a short-term pullback based on the latest charts. If that’s the case...

Director and major holder ups stake.Peter Kamin, a director and major holder with over 10 percent of shares inTile Shop Holdings (TTS), recently bought another 426,295 shares. This increased his stake by over 7.7 percent, and came to a total just over $750,000. Insiders have been net buyers in the past year, largely by Karmin and another director that also has a stake over 10 percent. All told, insiders own just under 80 percent of shares. Tile Shop Holdings, a retail outlet for natural stone and man-made tiles with over 141 stores in 31 states, has seen shares decline by nearly 80 perce...

Big bet on decline in shares in the next six months.Over 4,000 contracts traded on the April 17th, 2020 $10 put options onMarathon Oil (MRO). The option had a prior open interest of just 175 trades, making for a 23-fold rise in volume on the option. With a current price around $11.50, shares would need to drop 15 percent for the option trade to move in-the-money. For a company in the energy space, that kind of move in six months is easily achievable. The option currently trades around $0.66 or $66 per contract; the option would need to be at $9.40 or lower for the put buyer to profit at ...

Founder and Executive Chairman makes 300,000 share buy. Richard Kinder, the billionaire founder and Executive Chairman of Kinder Morgan (KMI), recently bought 300,000 shares. At a cost of just over $6 million, the buy only increases his stake by about 0.1 percent. Insider data for the company as a whole shows major regular buys from Kinder, but more mixed results from other executives, including a few sales in the past year. On total share count, however, insiders are buyers far more than sellers. Kinder Morgan is an energy infrastructure company with a focus on pipelines that transpo...

Near-the-money bet on share rally through June.The June 2020 $280 call options onMastercard (MA), saw a surge in volume from 345 open contracts to over 4,000 trade. With shares around $277, the option is near-the-money, and could start moving dollar-for-dollar higher with shares between now and June if the company rallies. At a price of $21.10 per option, or $2,110 per contract, it’s not for every trader, but it’s far cheaper than the price of buying 100 shares and hoping for a move higher. Shares of the payment processing company have had a great run in the past year, nearly tripling th...

1 2These firms show their employees the love—and deliver great results to shareholders.There are many ways to value potential investment opportunities. A more off-the-radar approach is to look for companies that get high ratings from employees. The logic is simple. When employees are happy, they’re likely to be more productive. Happy work environments are conducive to open communication about policies or projects that are (or aren’t) working. It makes hiring and retaining top talent easier, and that factor can have a significant impact on a company’s bottom line. That’s why one way to s...

Director makes $1.99 million buy.Mellody Hobson, a director atJP Morgan Chase (JPM), picked up 16,000 shares recently, increasing her stake in the company by 15 percent. At current prices, the buy came to $1.994 million, and leaves the director with just over 117,000 shares. Insider data shows that the banking behemoth has had a mix of insiders both buying and selling in the past few years, which is typical of big companies that pay executives in stock options. Shares of the company trade under 13 times earnings, and the company has expanded its dividend payout for a 2.9 percent yield at...

Thomas Shaw, President and CEO ofRetractable Technologies (RVP), added 1,500 shares to his stake recently. Shaw owns over 18.7 million shares of the company, making the increase in his total holdings a modest one. Shaw is a frequent buyer of shares in small lots—likely just enough to ensure the small-cap company’s shares don’t move wildly, and he has been buying shares as they have continued to move higher in the past few months. Retractable Technologies, a designer and manufacturer of safety syringes and other medical products for the healthcare industry, has seen shares advance 85 perc...

Bet in surge of call buying.There was a 25-fold surge in volume from 111 contracts to over 2,800 on the November 15th 2019 $16.50 call options onPetroleo Brasileiro (PBR), also known as Petrobras. The options, with shares of the Brazilian oil company trading at $15.50, would trade in-the-money with a $1 rally in shares in the next 22 days. At a cost of just $0.19, or $19 per contract, it’s a cheap bet on shares to rally in the next few weeks. The news comes as workers at the company state that they will go n strike over the weekend. The company has also faced a variety of scandals and st...

Bet on shares moving higher after earnings.Over 6,800 contracts traded on the November 8th $29 call options onKraft Heinz (KHC). Compared to the open interest of 141 contracts, that’s a 48-fold surge in volume. With shares of the company around $28.30, shares need to move just 2.5 percent higher in the coming 16 days before expiration to move in-the-money. For the call buyer, paying $0.90, to profit, shares need to move closer to $30 by then. With the company next reporting earnings on October 31st, the trade is a bet on shares doing just that.Action to take: As an earnings season trade,...