VOD – Vodafone Group Plc – Short term bullish positions initiated on Vodafone last week are generating substantial gains for some options traders today, with shares in the name up as much as 9.2% today to $32.12 after the U.K. carrier confirmed it is in talks to sell its 45% stake in Verizon Wireless to Verizon Communications Inc. Buyers of VOD weekly call options last Thursday saw a big jump in the value of their contracts overnight. Open interest in contracts that expire at the end of this week is greatest in the Aug 30 ’13 $29.5 and $30 calls, with 344 and 353 open contracts, respectively. A review of time and sales data in the $29.5 strike calls indicates one strategist purchased more than 300 contracts on August 22nd for a premium of $0.50 each. The jump in Vodafone’s shares today has roughly quadrupled the value of the $29.5 strike calls versus this time last week to $2.40 per contract as of 11:45 a.m. ET. Similarly, time and sales data suggests most of the Aug 30 ’13 $30 calls were purchased last Friday at a premium of $0.35 per contract. Premium required to purchase the $30 calls today has more than tripled in value to $1.90 each as of the time of this writing. Overall options volume on Vodafone is running well above the average daily level this morning, with 32,400 contracts traded thus far in the session versus an average of 8,900 options. Trading in VOD calls is outpacing that of puts, with the call/put ratio hovering around 3.2 as of 11:45 a.m. in New York.
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