Unusual Options Activity Thur 8/8/24

The following options are exhibiting notable trading, potentially indicating changing sentiment toward the underlying stocks, and/or potentially representing positioning for increased volatility.

Bullish Call Activity:

• CHWY Weekly Aug09 23 calls are seeing interest with the underlying stock up 5% (volume: 4.8K, open int: 920, implied vol: ~84%, prev day implied vol: 61%). Co is expected to report earnings late August.
• NIO Aug 3.5 calls are seeing interest with the underlying stock up 4% (volume: 2.7K, open int: 570, implied vol: ~77%, prev day implied vol: 71%). Co is expected to report earnings late September.
• BIDU Aug 90 calls are seeing interest with the underlying stock up 5% (volume: 3.0K, open int: 6.3K, implied vol: ~46%, prev day implied vol: 44%). Co is confirmed to report earnings August 22 before the open.
• OXY Weekly Aug09 58 calls are seeing interest with the underlying stock up 5% (volume: 4.9K, open int: 3.9K, implied vol: ~25%, prev day implied vol: 24%). Co reported earnings last night.
  

Bearish Put Activity:

• BMBL Aug 3.5 puts are seeing interest with the underlying stock down 31% (volume: 2.6K, open int: 0, implied vol: ~69%, prev day implied vol: 60%). Co reported earnings last night.
  

Sentiment: The CBOE Put/Call ratio is currently: 1.06, VIX: (25.72, -2.33, -7.7%).
August 16 is options expiration -- the last day to trade August equity options.

Insider Trading Tue 6/18/24

Notable purchases -- Buffett adds to OXY; notable sales -- CEO active in CYTK

Buyers:

• FRD President / Chief Executive Officer bought 10,000 shares at $16.15 - $16.75 worth ~$164K.
• MCFT 10% owner Coliseum Capital bought 191,181 shares at $19.50 - $20.00 worth approx. $3.8 mln; increasing active stake to 19.2% (prior 18.1%).
• OXY  10% owner Berkshire Hathaway's (BRK.A) Warren Buffett bought 2,947,611 shares at $59.38 - $60.37 worth nearly $176 mln.
• RBB Director bought 7,000 shares at $17.08 worth ~$120K.

Sellers:

• CYTK President / Chief Executive Officer sold 22,500 shares at $52.59 - $52.60 worth ~$1.2 mln.
• LLYVA 10% owner Berkshire Hathaway's (BRK.A) Warren Buffett sold 65,330 shares of Series A Liberty Live Common Stock worth approx. $2.2 mln.

Insider Trading Thur 6/13/24

Notable purchases -- Buffett adds to OXY; notable sales -- CPO active in RAMP

Buyers:

• BL co-Chief Executive Officer bought 7,552 shares at $45.92 - $46.31 worth approx. $348K.
• BOC Director bought 30,000 shares at $13.89 - $14.12 worth approx. $421K.
• CLF Chief Financial Officer and two (2) Directors bought 21,450 shares combined worth approx. $319K.
• DINO Director bought 2000 shares at $52.04 worth ~$104K.
• HWKN Director bought 4,000 shares at $85.50 - $89.44 worth approx. $351K.
• KRON President and Chief Executive Officer bought 3,005,122 shares worth more than $3 mln.
• OEC SVP Global Operations bought 4,000 shares at $23.51 worth approx. $94K.
• OXY  10% owner Berkshire Hathaway's (BRK.A) Warren Buffett bought 1,750,308 shares worth approx. $105.6 mln.
• PEB Chairman and Chief Executive Officer bought 45,000 shares at $13.48 - $13.72 worth about $611K.
• PKOH Director bought 15000 shares at $24.67 - $26.08 worth ~$377K.
• TLS Director bought 283,566 shares at $3.99 - $4.19 worth more than $1.1 mln.
• WSR Director bought 17,000 shares at $13.09 worth about $223K.

Sellers:

• ACVA Director sold 22,958 shares at $18.01 - $18.39 worth approx. $416K.
• ALTR 10% owner sold 200,000 shares at $91.44 - $98.00 worth nearly $19 mln.
• CCOI Chairman, Chief Executive Officer, and President sold 60,000 shares at $54.60 worth approx. $3.3 mln.
• RAMP Chief Product Officer sold 13,055 shares at $31.11 worth ~$406K.

Insider Trading Thur 12/14/23

Notable purchases -- Buffett adds to OXY; notable sales -- President/CEO active in WM

Buyers:

• BANC Director bought 10,000 shares at $12.305 - $12.34 worth ~$123K.
• DEA Chairman bought 8,000 shares at $13.14 - $13.15 worth ~$105K.
• ET Co-CEO bought 50,000 shares at $13.185 - $13.20 worth ~$660K.
• FTK Director bought 54,859 shares at $3.19 - $3.53 worth ~$189K.
• GTLS Director bought 500 shares at $134.445 worth ~$67K.
• LOVE 10% owner Satori Capital bought 151,784 shares at $24.91 - $25.80 worth ~$3.9 mln.
• OXY 10% owner Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway (BRK.A / BRK.B) bought another 10,482,162 shares worth approx. $589 mln.
• SJM Director bought 1,000 shares at $125.05 worth ~$125K.
• TEX Director bought 50,000 shares at $50.69 - $51.20 worth ~$2.6 mln.

Sellers:

• CCOI President / CEO sold 20,000 shares at $69.99 worth ~$1.4 mln.
• SF Senior Vice President & General Counsel sold 8,100 shares at $ 64.745 worth ~$524K.
• WM President / CEO sold 9,550 shares at $177.00 worth ~$1.7 mln.

Unusual Options Activity Mon 10/9/23

Stocks seeing volatility buying (bullish call buying/bearish put buying):

Calls:

• PXD Oct 250 calls are seeing interest with 12.5K contracts trading vs. open int of 1.6K, pushing implied vol up around 13 points to ~50%. Co is expected to report earnings early November.
  
• OXY Oct 64 calls are seeing interest with the underlying stock up 4% with 13.2K contracts trading vs. open int of 1.1K, pushing implied vol up around 10 points to ~39%. Chevron (CVX) was interested in Occidental Petroleum (OXY) at the beginning of the year, according to The Wall Street Journal. Co is expected to report earnings November 7 after the close.
• LMT Oct 450 calls are seeing interest with the underlying stock up 8% with 2810 contracts trading vs. open int of 0, pushing implied vol up around 5 points to ~41%. Defense names showing strength amid Israel/Hamas war. 
  

Puts:

• DLO Oct 17 puts are seeing interest with 11.0K contracts trading vs. open int of 0, pushing implied vol up around 19 points to ~65%. Co is expected to report earnings mid-November.
  

Sentiment: The CBOE Put/Call ratio is currently: 0.96, VIX: (17.75, +0.30, +1.7%).
October 20 is options expiration -- the last day to trade October equity options.

Berkshire Hathaway (Warren Buffett) discloses updated portfolio positions in 13F filing

New DHI NVR LEN positions, Exited MCK MMC, Lowered ATVI GM CVX holdings

Highlights from Q2 2023 filing as compared to Q1 2023:

• New positions in: DHI (~5.97 mln shares), LEN (~0.15 mln), NVR (~0.01 mln)
• Increased positions in: OXY (affirmed increased to ~224.13 mln shares from ~211.71 mln shares), COF (to ~12.47 mln from ~9.92 mln)
• Maintained positions in: BAC (~1032.85 mln shares), AAPL (~915.56 mln shares), KO (~400 mln shares), KHC  (~325.63 mln shares), AXP (~151.61 mln shares), HPQ (~120.95 mln shares), DVA (~36.1 mln shares), MCO (~24.67 mln shares)
• Closed positions in: MCK (from ~2.29 mln shares), MMC (from ~0.4 mln), VTS (from ~0.05 mln)
• Decreased positions in: ATVI (to ~14.66 mln shares from ~49.44 mln shares), GM (to ~22 mln from ~40 mln), CVX (to ~123.12 mln from ~132.41 mln), GL (to ~2.52 mln from ~6.35 mln), CE (to ~5.36 mln from ~8.82 mln)

===Occidental Petroleum (OXY) reported earnings on Wed 2 Aug 23 (a/h)

 

Occidental Petro misses by $0.05, misses on revs

• Reports Q2 (Jun) earnings of $0.68 per share, excluding non-recurring items, $0.05 worse than the FactSet Consensus of $0.73; revenues fell 37.3% year/year to $6.73 bln vs the $6.92 bln FactSet Consensus.
• Production of 1,218 Mboed exceeded the mid-point of guidance by 42 Mboed; full-year production guidance raised to 1,210 Mboed.

Estimates: Analysts expected Occidental Petroleum to report earnings sinking 77% to 72 cents per share in Q2. Meanwhile, Wall Street forecast revenue falling 37% to $6.7 billion.

Results: Occidental Petroleum reported EPS of 68 cents, down 78% vs. 2022, as sales fell 37% to $6.7 billion.

OXY announced oil and gas pre-tax income for the second quarter of 2023 was $1.1 billion, down 73% from Q2 2022.

OXY reported Wednesday that income from its oil and gas operations declined due to lower domestic natural gas and natural gas liquids prices (NGL) as well as lower domestic crude oil volumes.

Average Q2 worldwide crude oil prices fell 22% to $73.59 per barrel, according to OXY. Meanwhile, the company said average worldwide NGL prices decreased 545 $19.08 per barrel in Q2.

Occidental produced 1.218 million barrels of oil equivalent per day, exceeding the mid-point of its guidance. OXY announced Wednesday it expects average full-year production of 1.210 million barrels of oil equivalent per day.

In Q1, OXY had forecast full-year production guidance to average 1.195 million barrels of oil equivalent per day. Occidental Petroleum executives previously forecast 2023 production to average 1.18 million barrels of oil equivalent per day, keeping production mostly flat compared to the 1.16 million in 2022.

Occidental Petroleum also repurchased $425 million of stock in Q2. So far in 2023, OXY completed around 40% of its $3 billion repurchase program.

Earnings this week : July 31 - Aug 4, 23 (wk 31)

Monday (Jul 31)

• Morning:  AER APLS CAMT CAN CBU IMGN ON SOFI
• Afternoon: ADUS AMRC AMKR ANET AVB CAR NTB BHE BMRN BCC BRX CRC CNO CRK CWK FANG DV DRQ ELME ES HLIT HTLF HOLX HUN INST JJSF KFRC KRC LSCC LEG MPWR MSA OGS OTTR PGRE PCH RMBS RRX RSG SANM SBAC SON THC AAN RIG TREX VRNS VNOM VNO WELL WDC WWD YUMC ZI

Tuesday (Aug 1)

• Morning: ALGM MO AME ARES BLMN BP CAT CVLT DORM DTM ETN ECL EPD ETRN ESAB ESPR IT THRM GPN GPK HLNE HRMY HWM IDXX ITW INCY NSP IGT IPGP IQV JBLU KMT LEA LDOS LGIH MPC MAR MRK TAP MPLX NBIX NCLH PFE PEG RVTY RYTM ROK SSTK SIRI SWK SPWR SYY TRN TRTN UBER WSO WEC ZBRA ZBH
• Afternoon:  AMD AFL ALIT ALL AIG ANDE APAM AZPN AIZ AXTA AXS BLKB BXP BFAM CZR CWH CDLX CCCS CHK COLM CACC DENN DVN DEI ELF EA EHC EXAS EXEL FE FLS FCPT FRSH ULCC HMN HPP INSP JBT KAI LMAT LFUS LUMN MGY MTCH MATX MLNK MSTR MOS NVRO NMIH NUS OI OLO OMCL PAYC PEN PECO PINS PXD PRU KWR ROVR SAFE SCI SHLS SILK SKY SEDG SFM SBUX STE TEX TX UIS UNM VFC VREX VRTX VMEO SPCE VOYA WTI

Wednesday (Aug 2)

• Morning:  ADNT ATI ALGT ABC ASTE AVDX AVA BGNE BRY BPMC BWA BLDR BG CCJ CG CDW CERE CHEF CLH YOU CIGI CMCO CNDT ROAD CRTO CVS DISH DFIN DRVN DD DT EDIT EMR ETR NVRI EXC EXTR RACE FIS FTS FDP FTDR GRMN GNRC ROCK GFF HAYW HUM IBP ICPT IMXI JHG JCI KHC LPX LXP MTRN MIR NI NNN DNOW PCRX PSN PERI PSX PUMP RCM RDWR RGEN RITM RXO SPNS STNG SMG SITE SR SPR SHOO SUN TEVA COCO TRI TT TGI TTMI TPB UTHR VCEL VRSK VRT WAT WING WWE XHR XYL YUM
• Afternoon: ACAD ADPT ALB ALKT ALLO ATUS DOX AEE AFG AMWL ANSS APA AMK ATO ACLS BTG BAND BKH BOOT CHRW CPE CDAY CF CAKE CHRD CIVI CWAN CLX CTSH CYH CODI CFLT CORT CCRN CW DASH DXC ESTE ECPG ERII ET NVST EPR EQIX EQH ETD ETSY EVGO EVH EOLS FICO FARO FSLY FRT FMC FORM FWRD GKOS GT GXO THG HLF HI HST HUBS NARI INFA IR NGVT IIPR FROG KW KGC KN LMND LESL LNC MRO VAC MMS MCK MELI MET MTG MGM MKSI MOD MUSA NFG NCR NRDS NE NOG NTR NUVA OXY OHI KAR ORA PACB PLMR PK PYPL PCOR PSA LUNG QTWO QRVO QCOM RDN RYN RMAX O RGNX RELY RVLV HOOD RPT RSI SRPT SDGR SIGI SHOP SPG SBGI SITM SM SPXC STAA SRI RGR SUM RUN COOK TRIP UFPI UGI U UPWK HCC WCN WTS WMB WSC ZETA ZG

Thursday (Aug 3)

• Morning: ACIW GOLF WMS AGIO APD ALNY BUD APG APO APTV ARW AUPH BALL BALY BHC BCE BDX BDC BCRX BKI BV BIP BRKR GOOS CARS LNG CQP CIM IMOS CLVT CGNX COHU COMM COP CEG CMI DLX XRAY DGII DIN DNB ECVT EPC ESMT ENOV ENTG EPAM EXPE FVRR FOCS GEL GIL HAS DINO HGV HEP HII H IDA NSIT INSM NTLA ICE IDCC IRM ITRI ITT JLL KRTX K KTB KOP KYMR LAMR LNTH MTSI MMP MDU MFA MGPI MIDD MRNA MUR NJR NWN NVMI OCSL PZZA PH PBF MD PGTI DOC PNW PBI PLNT PTLO PBH PRVA PWR PACK REGN SABR SBH SNDR SRE SHAK FOUR SWI SHC SO SAVE STWD TNK TGNA TFX TPX CI THRY TKR BLD TRMB UNIT UPBD VC VNT VMC WD WBD W WCC WLK WRK WIX
• Afternoon:  TXG AAON ABCL AEIS AES AL ATSG ABNB LNT ALTR AMZN COLD AMGN AMN APPN AAPL ACA TEAM BGS BIGC BIO SQ BE BKNG BWXT CABO CPT CARG CHUY CRUS CLFD NET CDXS COIN COLL ED CRSR CTVA CUBE CYTK DVA DH DEN DM DRH DOCN DLB DKNG DBX LOCO ENV EOG EXPI EXR FIGS FND FTNT FOXF FNKO GEN GILD GMED GDDY GPRO LOPE GDOT GDYN GH HTGC ICFI IAS IRTC KTOS LTHM MTZ MERC MCHP MCW MODV MNST MSI MP MWA MYGN NSTG NTRA LASR OTEX OPEN OPK OSUR OUT PCTY PBA PRDO PLYA POST POWI PGNY PRTA PTCT QLYS RBA RRR RDFN REG RGA REZI RMD RLJ RKT RYAN RHP SEM TSLX SWN SPT STEM STEP SYK SNCY SYNA TNDM SKT TMST TMDX TVTX TRUP TTEC UDMY RARE OLED VTR VIR WERN WK WW XNCR XPOF YELP ZD

Friday (Aug 4)  

• Morning:  AMCX AXL BEP CBOE CNK CRBG DBRG D ENB ESNT EVRG FSR FLR FYBR FLGT GTES GNK EAF GTN GPRE TILE LYB MGA OMI PAA PNM PPL PRLB RBC SSP SHO TU TIXT TNC TAC TWST XPO

Insider Trading : Fri 5/19/23

Notable purchases -- Berkshire Hathaway adds to OXY; notable sales -- 10% owner active in FIBK

Buyers:

• AVD Director bought 41,359 shares at $16.47 - $17.02 worth ~$693K.
• BCOV Chief Executive Officer bought 70,000 shares at $3.38 - $3.59 worth ~$245K.
• OXY 10% owner Berkshire Hathaway (Warren Buffett) bought another 3,457,222 shares worth more than $201 mln.
• PECO Director bought 10,000 shares at $29.15 - $29.18 worth ~$292K.
• PRAA Directors (2) bought 19,500 shares at $18.87 - $19.08 worth ~$371K.
• RBA Chief Executive Officer and one (1) Director bought 19,993 shares at $54.06 - $54.15 worth ~$1.1 mln.

Sellers:

• DCGO Director sold 125,000 shares at $8.47 - $8.55 worth ~$1.1 mln.
• FIBK 10% owner sold 62,223 shares at $23.00 - $23.17 worth ~$1.4 mln.
• HRT 10% owner sold 162,700 shares at $10.03 - $10.11 worth ~$1.6 mln.
• WTS 10% owner sold 13,000 shares at $165.00 - $167.11 worth ~$2.1 mln.
• XPEL Director sold 25,000 shares at $75.00 - $77.00 worth ~$1.9 mln.

BRK.A Berkshire Hathaway (Warren Buffett) : updated portfolio positions in 13F filing

Affirms OXY HPQ positions.

New C ALLY CE PARA CE MCK positions.

Exited WFC BMY ABBV

Highlights from 2022 Q1 filing as compared to Q4 2021:

• New positions in: OXY (~136.37 mln shares), HPQ (~104.48 mln), PARA (~68.95 mln), C (~55.16 mln), ALLY (~8.97 mln), CE (~7.88 mln), MCK (~2.92 mln), MKL (~0.42 mln)
• Increased positions in: CVX (to ~159.18 mln shares from ~38.25 mln shares), ATVI (to ~64.32 mln from ~14.66 mln), FWONK (to ~7.72 mln from ~2.12 mln), FND (to ~4.78 mln from ~0.84 mln), GM (to ~62.05 mln from ~60 mln) RH (to ~2.17 mln from ~1.82 mln)
• Maintained positions in: BAC (~1010.1 mln shares), AAPL (~890.92 mln shares), KO (~400 mln shares), KHC  (~325.63 mln shares), AXP (~151.61 mln shares), USB (~126.42 mln shares), DVA (~36.1 mln shares), MCO (~24.67 mln shares)
• Closed positions in: BMY (from ~5.2 mln), ABBV (from ~3.03 mln), WFC (from ~0.68 mln)
• Decreased positions in: VZ (to ~1.38 mln shares from ~158.82 mln shares), STOR (to ~14.75 mln from ~24.42 mln), RPRX (to ~1.5 mln from ~8.65 mln), KR (to ~57.99 mln from ~61.41 mln)

=Anadarko Petroleum (APC) : superior proposal from Occidental Petro (OXY) to acquire company for $76.00 per share

Anadarko Petroleum: Occidental Petroleum (OXY) confirms 'superior proposal' to acquire Anadarko for $76.00 per share in cash & stock

Occidental Petroleum Corporation delivered a letter to the Board of Directors of Anadarko Petroleum setting forth the terms of a superior proposal by Occidental to acquire Anadarko for $76.00 per share, in which Anadarko shareholders would receive $38.00 in cash and 0.6094 shares of Occidental common stock for each share of Anadarko common stock. Occidental's proposal represents a premium of approximately 20% to the value of Anadarko's pending transaction with Chevron (CVX) as of April 23, 2019.

• Occidental believes its proposal is superior both financially and strategically for Anadarko's shareholders, creating a global energy leader with the scale and geographic diversification to drive growth and deliver compelling value and returns to the shareholders of both companies. The combined company will be uniquely positioned to leverage Occidental's demonstrated operational and technical expertise, producing greater anticipated synergies than Anadarko's pending transaction.
• The 50-50 cash and stock transaction is valued at $57 billion, based on Occidental's closing price on April 23, 2019, including the assumption of net debt and book value of non-controlling interest.

Occidental Petro CEO on CNBC discusses bid for Anadarko (APC); note APC agreed to be acquired by Chevron (CVX) two weeks ago

• Anadarko will enhance dividend plus growth strategy
• Most APC assets are in the shale -- OXY has a proven track record in the Permian Basin.
• Been studying APC for two years; first approached them in July 2017; still a friendly engagement.
• CNBC's Faber: Why not look at other shale plays without a fight? No other oppty with this upside potential. There are 10K wells that can be drilled; OXY has much more efficient operations in the Delaware Basin.
• Will now be able to articulate strategy to its own shareholders -- very confident in getting approval from them.
• Half of synergies would come from things they already do for their assets.

Anadarko agreed to receive 0.3869 shares of Chevron (CVX) and $16.25 in cash which amounts to $65/share on April 12.

Occidental offered $38.00 in cash and 0.6094 shares of OXY which amounts to $76/share this morning (the bid has already been diminashed by OXY's falling stock price).

Two weeks ago, APC went with a (less risky) lower bid from a much better capitalized and larger CVX that doesn't need its shareholders to approve the deal while in discussions with OXY.

Premarket: APC +9%, OXY -8%, CVX +0.6%