Director ups stake by 11 percent.Fred Clark, a director atNational Security Group (NSEC), picked up 9,813 shares recently, increasing his stake by 11 percent and leaving him with 98,723 shares. The buy cost just over $118,000. Insiders have been buyers at the company in the past year, with the last insider sale occurring in 2018. Overall, insiders own 52 percent of outstanding shares, a huge sign that management is aligned with shareholders for growing long-term value. National Security Group is an Alabama-based property & casualty insurance company offering services across the south...

Call option buys indicate higher move ahead.A number of options plays onAnalog Devices (ADI) occurred with unusual volume. The November 15th 2019 $115 calls saw over 4,500 contracts trade, a 40-fold surge in volume from the prior open interest of 113. With shares just under $113, shares need to move about $2 higher, or 1.8 percent, in the next 38 days for these options to move in-the-money. The expiration is right before the company next announces earnings in late November. The semiconductor company creates a variety of integrated circuits, algorithms, software, and subsystems for variou...

Chief quality officer makes $71,000 buy and fund adds 1.5 million shares.Bryan Ball, Chief Quality Officer atImmunomedics (IMMU), bought 5,000 shares, paying around $71,000 to do so. This doubles his stake, following a similarly-sized buy back in June. Besides insider buying by officers, a number of funds have been accumulating shares as well, including a 1.5 million share buy by Avoro Capital Advisors in early October. The fund now owns over 21 million shares, or about 11 percent of the total shares outstanding. Immunomedics is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company developing antib...

60-fold surge in call-buying volume.With 8,900 contracts trading on the November 1st $29 call options onMGM Resorts International (MGM) saw a 60-fold surge in volume from its prior open interest of 150 contracts. With 25 days left to go, and with shares just over $27, the option trade will expire worthless unless shares rise to at least $29, or 7.4 percent. With the company reporting earnings the last week of October, shares could have a big enough bounce to move in-the-money. Casino plays have been a popular place for traders this year, as well as from corporate insiders, including prio...

Put buying suggests drop ahead.Over 2,600 contracts traded on the January $120 put options onThe Howard Hughes Corporation (HHC), up from a volume of 100. That’s a 27-fold increase in volume, a very unusual move in a name that typically has little options activity. With shares at $126, shares need to drop nearly 5 percent for this option to move in-the-money. With 105 trading days to go, it’s a bet that could play out. The company, an owner, manager, and developer of various properties throughout the United States, seems like an unlikely candidate for a bearish trade. However, shares tra...

November put buying suggests further drop.The November 15th $8 put options onTeva Pharmaceutical (TEVA) saw over 17,000 contracts trade against a prior open interest of 243, indicating a 70-fold surge in volume on the trade. With shares of Teva around $7, the $8 puts are already $1 in-the-money and should move penny-for-penny with any further drop in shares. At a cost of $1.44, the option also has about a penny a day in time premium attached to it. Shares of Teva have slid by 68 percent in the past year, and the company has some liability stemming from opioid-related pharmaceutical produ...

Traders bet on a rally in shares this month.The October 19th $44.50 call options onFoot Locker (FL) saw nearly 2,000 contracts trade against a prior open interest of 147, for a 13-fold surge in volume. With shares trading around $42.70, shares need to rally at least 4 percent for the option to move in-the-money. The company next reports earnings in late November, so the move higher will have to occur without that particular catalyst. Shares of the mall-based retailer of athletic apparel have already started to move higher thanks to the strong earnings report from Nike last week, which co...

Major holder buys another 1.8 million shares.Hudson Executive Capital LP continues to buy massive blocks of shares atUSA Technologies (USAT). Following a recent buy, the company picked up another 1.8 million shares on September 26th, increasing their stake by 21 percent. The fund paid $8.2 million for the block of shares, and now owns over 10.1 million shares of the company. With a float of only 37 million shares, Hudson now owns over 27 percent of shares outstanding. The fund may be vying to buy up 50 percent of the company to assume control, either to take the company private, or to be...

Traders bullish on telecom in coming weeks.The October 18th $13.50 call options onCenturyLink (CTL) saw nearly 4,000 contracts trade, against a prior open interest of 360, an 11-fold surge in volume. With shares at $12.75, the option will trade in-the-money if shares rise 5.8 percent in the next 18 days. Given how shares have traded as high as $22 in the past year, the option stands a reasonable chance of heading higher in the next few weeks. With shares of the company trading under 10 times earnings and yielding over 7.7 percent following a 40 percent decline in the past year, the telec...

At-the-money puts suggest potential decline.The December 20th $10 put options onFreeport McMoRan (FCX) saw over 8,100 contracts trade, a 57-fold increase over the prior open interest of 143 contracts. With 84 days left to go, and with shares right at $10.00, the option should increase in value with any dollar-for-dollar drop in shares. With the option trading around $0.80, shares would need to only drop to $9.20 for the option holder to start making money on the trade. Freeport McMoRan has seen shares trade as high as $14 and as low as $8.50 in the past year. At the low, the option holde...