Shares of EMC are trading lower on the session by 1.45%, at $26.50. The stock has been basing above the 50-day and 200-day moving averages over the past few weeks and appears ready to break out to the upside.
Options traders are targeting LEAP calls in the name today, which has pushed overall call volume to nearly 6x normal volume.
The heavy action is coming in January 2014, where the $20 and $25 calls are seeing huge block trades:
The Jan14 $20 call was purchased 10,000x and 5,000x, on the offer, for $8.25. The strike is currently bid $8.10, at $8.25. The Jan14 $25 call was also purchased, this time in a 25,000 contract block, on the offer, for $4.95. The strike is now bid $4.85, at $4.95.
Volume on both strikes has exceeded open interest of 3,039 and 17,111 contracts, respectively.
Today?s options action coincides with several large block trades in the common. The $20 calls, which traded between 10:18am and 10:21am appear to be linked with 800,000 shares that were purchased, on the offer, for $26.65 (trade time: 10:19:29).
The $25 calls, which traded at 10:22am, look to pair up with a block of 400,000 shares that was purchased, on the offer, for $26.65 (trade time: 10:22:49).
EMC Corporation and its subsidiaries develop, deliver, and support the information technology industry’s range of information infrastructure and virtual infrastructure technologies, solutions and services. EMC manages its business in two categories: EMC Information Infrastructure and VMware Virtual Infrastructure.