CEO, Directors, continue to pick up shares. On Wednesday, August 7th,Encana (ECA) CEO Douglas Suttles picked up another 6,000 shares of the oil and gas exploration company. The $24,000 he spent raised his total stake to over 200,000 shares. This isn’t his first buy this month. He also bought 10,000 shares on August 6th, paying nearly $42,000 as well. And he isn’t alone, as multiple directors have been buyers since the start of the month. Director Fred Fowler picked up 25,000 shares—paying about $100,000—on August 7th. And Director Howard Mayson picked up 5,000 shares on August fist, p...

Big bet on rally in August.Shares ofBeyond Meat (BYND) may rally over 50 percent between now and August 30th. That’s the bet behind the surge in August 30th $250 calls on the plant-based meat alternative company, whose shares currently trade around $160. On Tuesday, over 2,100 of the options traded against an open interest just under 200, for an 11-fold increase in volume.   Last week, the company reported that it quadrupled its sales as part of its earnings report. Despite those numbers, shares lagged on news that the company was issuing more shares, diluting existing shareholde...

Traders bet on share rally in the next month.Many tech names took a steep dive on Monday on trade war fears. But traders were betting those would be short lived. One name that saw multiple options with unusual activity wasNvidia (NVDA), maker of advanced graphic processors. The August 30th $155 call was one of several options on the company that saw unusual trading, with over 1,580 shares trade against an open interest of 114, making for a 14-fold surge in volume. With shares of the company trading around $151 on Monday following a brutal 6 percent decline, the $155 calls would go in-the...

Traders bet earnings drop will be short-lived.On Friday, traders bet on a higher price for payment companySquare (SQ), following a drop on lower than expected earnings. A number of different options traded on unusually high volume, most expecting a bounce within the next week. One big trade was on the August 9th $70 calls, which saw over 3,200 contracts trade against an open interest of 129, for a 25-fold increase in volume. With shares of Square dropping from $80 to under $70 on the one-two punch of an earnings miss and a dropping market on trade war fears, the explosion in volume on tr...

Multiple insiders pick up reinsurer’s shares.On Wednesday, July 31st, multiple insiders bought shares atWatford Holdings (WTRE). Those buys included 25,000 shares by CEO John Rathgeber, 25,000 shares by director Nicolas Papadopoulo, 2,500 shares by CFO Alexandre Scherer, and 1,500 shares by Chief Risk Officer Jon Levy. Collectively, these insiders bought over $1 million in shares. Insiders have been buyers of the company earlier in the year, with a large cluster of buys back in May at far higher prices. Watford Holdings engages as a property, casualty, and mortgage insurance and reinsura...

President & CEO buys 50,000 shares.On Tuesday, July 30th, Gary Kolstad, President and CEO ofCARBO Ceramics (CRR) bought 50,000 shares of his company, paying $53,000. This increased his stake by over 10 percent, bringing his total share ownership in the company to over 512,000 shares. This is the first insider buy at CARBO this year, but Kolstad has been a buyer multiple times in 2018 at far higher prices. CARBO Ceramics is a technology company that provides products and services to the oil and gas industry, such as base ceramic proppants, frac sand proppants, and oil and gas operator...

CEO makes $4.5 million buy.On Friday July 26th,Air Products & Chemicals (APD) CEO Seifi Ghasemi picked up 20,000 shares of the company. At $227 per share, the total cost came to a whopping $4.5 million bet on the company. The new buy brings his total share count to nearly 454,000 shares. This marks the first insider buy at the company for 2019, and only one insider has sold shares at the industrial giant this year. Air Products & Chemicals provides atmospheric gases, process and specialty gases, and related equipment and services worldwide. That includes products like oxygen, nit...

Big bet on shares rallying through January.On Monday, a bullish bet was made onAnheuser-Busch Inbev (BUD), maker of Budweiser and other beverages and spirits. The bet was on the January 2020 $90 call options on the stock, expiring 171 days from now. Over 15,000 of these contracts traded, against an open interest of 1,233, making for a 12-fold surge in volume on the option. Even more unusual is the fact that shares currently trade around $101, making the option about $11 in-the-money. It should move higher penny-for-penny with shares. At a current price around $14.00, there’s only about $...

Director makes $50,000 buy.Last week, Richard Fredericks bought 3,105 shares ofCadence Bancorp (CADE), increasing his stake by 3 percent. He paid nearly $50,000. This brings his total stake in the company to nearly 108,000 shares. Other directors have been buyers, largely back in May. Insiders have been sellers of shares at prices at least 20-25 percent higher than where they currently trade. Cadence is a Houston-based bank that operates 66 offices in Texas, Alabama, Florida, Mississippi, Tennessee and Georgia. The bank was founded in 1885, and offers traditional banking products such as...

Big bet on shares declining in the next month.On Friday, a bearish bet onCaterpillar (CAT)led the options market for the size of unusual activity. Over 7,700 contracts traded on the August $128 put options, against an open interest of 123. That is a 62-fold surge in volume. With the share price around $134, shares will need to fall at least 4.5 percent for the option to trade in-the-money before the option expires on August 16th. Caterpillar is a global leader in farm, mining, and construction equipment, with over 104,000 employees around the world. Best known for tractors and loaders, t...