The options pits are seeing increased bullish activity
Lennar Corp (NYSE:LEN) lifted its annual dividend to $2 per share from $1.50, and also raised its stock buyback program by $5 billion. LEN was last seen up 3.6% to trade at $153.56, and earlier came even closer to its Dec. 15 all-time high of $156, after staging a bounce off the $144 level last week. Over the past 12 months, the security added almost 60%.
The options pits are seeing increased bullish activity in response. So far today, 2,350 calls have been traded, or double the intraday average amount. Most popular is the weekly 2/9 157.50-strike call, with positions opening there.
Options traders have been extremely bullish of late. This is per LEN's 10-day call/put volume ratio of 1.77 over at the International Securities Exchange (ISE), Cboe Options Exchange (CBOE), and NASDAQ OMX PHLX (PHLX) that sits higher than all but 2% of readings from the past year.
Options are attractively priced, making now a good time to weigh in on LEN's next moves. This is per the security's Schaeffer's Volatility Index (SVI) of 25%, which ranks in the 13th percentile of its annual range. This means options traders are currently pricing in low volatility expectations.