Big bet on shares rallying through October.On Thursday, a large bet was made on shares ofTarga Resources Group (TRGP) continuing its recent rally higher. Over 5,250 of the October $43 call options traded hands, against an open interest of 242—making for a 21-fold increase in volume. With a current share price around $40.50, this is a bet that shares will move at least 6 percent higher in the next 84 days. Targa is a storage and transport company for natural gas and oil, with a focus on large shale plays in Texas and Oklahoma. It has over 30,000 miles of pipeline, six terminals, and over ...

 Major holder adds to truck transportation company. On Thursday, Elliott International, LP, bought 1,866 shares ofRoadrunner Transportation Systems (RRTS). While the total cost was under $20,000, Elliott already owns over 23,148,000 shares of the company— making them a major shareholder. The recent buy increases their holdings by 0.01 percent, the fund has been a repeat buyer of shares near current prices in prior months in the 1,500-8,000 share range. Roadrunner operates asset-light transportation and logistics services, primarily in the United States and Canada, through 40 ...

Director adds to stake of regional bank. On Tuesday, director Karl Silberstein picked up 4,000 shares ofBank of Commerce Holdings (BOCH). The buy increases his stake to 30,295 shares, and came at a total cost of $42,400. Over the past two years, insiders at Bank of Commerce Holdings have been buyers, with no sales. Insiders own nearly 6 percent of outstanding shares.   Bank of Commerce Holdings is the holding company for Redding Bank of Commerce in Northern California. The bank is largely in the traditional lending business to small and medium-sized businesses as well as retai...

[image]Major fund owner adds to stake. Last week, Owl Creek Asset Management bought over 428,000 shares of pdvWireless Inc (ATEX). This represented a 16 percent increase in the fund’s holdings and brings their total share ownership up to over 3,076,000. The fund, with over $2 billion in assets under management, owns over 10 percent of shares in the company.   pdvWireless provides network and mobile communication solutions to infrastructure and enterprise customers, with a cloud-based mobile resource management solution and push-to-talk mobile communication services, and provid...

Trader makes bullish bet before earnings on Wednesday. Shares ofFacebook (FB) may rally on Wednesday after it reports earnings. On Monday over 29,400 contracts traded on a July 26th call option on the social media giant. With a strike price of $227.50 and with shares around $200, it’s a bet that shares will move up in the coming four days. Shares would need to move 13.5 percent higher for the trade to move in-the-money.   With the option trading around $0.32, or $32 per contract, this is a cheap bet on any earnings move higher Wednesday. And should earnings miss or the share p...

Deep-value investment firm adds to stake.Last week, Strategic Value Partners, LLC, already a 10% owner, added to its stake inChaparral Energy (CHAP). The fund bought 554,321 shares at a cost of just over $3.1 million. This follows on additional buys by the fund in recent weeks. Since April, the fund has seen its total holdings increase from 10.7 million shares to 13.1 million shares. Chaparral Energy engages in the acquisition, exploration, and production of onshore oil and natural gas properties primarily in the state of Oklahoma. Like other natural gas names right now, shares have stru...

Shares likely to move higher by double-digits before year-end. Shares ofBrookfield Asset Management (BAM) may be heading higher between now and December, based on a surge of the $55 call options there. On Thursday, over 3,250 of the calls traded against a prior open interest of 187, nearly a 17-fold surge in volume. With shares trading at $48.50 however, the options imply that shares are likely to move at least 13 percent higher between now and December expiration, 154 days away. As shares of Brookfield have never broken $50 in the past year, this is an unusual bet that shares will mo...

 Director adds to stake of energy exploration company. On Wednesday, director Bailey Peyton picked up another 3,000 shares ofUnit Corp (UNT), where he serves as a director. The stake cost $21,900 and increased his shares take to 74,652, an increase of 4.2 percent. This follows on buys made back in May by Peyton, as well as two other directors, at prices ranging from 28 to 38 percent higher than today. Unit Corporation engages in the exploration, acquisition, development and production of natural gas and oil properties in the United States, largely in Oklahoma and Texas, as we...

Bet on shares heading higher. Shares ofCloudera (CLDR) may be heading higher between now and February, based on a surge of the $5 call options there. On Thursday, over 8,200 of the calls traded against a prior open interest of 123—a 67-fold surge in volume. With shares trading at $5.50, the options are also about 10 percent in-the-money, meaning they should move penny-for-penny, less the decline in the time premium. Cloudera provides data analytic and management products, operating both a subscription and service-based systems. It provides data and storage solutions for private cloud ...