FB – Facebook, Inc. – Shares in Facebook are up 3.9% at $44.32 on Friday afternoon, following a price target increase to $55.00 from $40.00 at SunTrust Robinson Humphrey. SunTrust maintains a ‘Buy’ rating on Facebook.
Options volume on FB is marching higher, topping 475,000 contracts by 1:45 p.m. ET and surpassing the stock’s average daily options volume of approximately 402,000 contracts. Trading in FB calls is outpacing that of puts, driving the call/put ratio to 2.2 as of the time of this writing. Shares in Facebook are up more than 130% since this time last year.
PKG – Packaging Corporation of America – The manufacturer of containerboard and corrugated packing popped up on our ‘hot by options volume’ market scanner on Friday morning due to heavier than usual trading in October expiry calls. Overall options volume in excess of 2,650 contracts as of the time of this writing is more than nine times the stock’s average daily options volume of approximately 290 contracts.
The most actively traded contracts by volume on PKG today are the Oct $57.5 strike calls, with roughly 1,200 lots in play versus open interest of 467 contracts. Most of the volume appears to have been purchased just after 10:00 a.m. ET this morning for an average premium of $0.37 each. Buyers of the $57.5 calls profit at expiration next month in the event that shares in PKG surge 8.0% over the current price of $53.62 to surpass a breakeven point and new 52-week high of $57.87. Packaging Corp is expected to report third-quarter earnings in mid-October. …
