ATVI shares just touched a record high
Activision Blizzard, Inc. (NASDAQ:ATVI) is trading higher again on a bullish analyst note, after Wedbush hiked its price target to $100 from $85. ATVI stock is up slightly at $83.42, already having hit a fresh record high of $84.68. The shares' year-over-year gain is approaching 30%, and another positive session today would mark a fourth straight daily gain.
In the options pits, calls have remained popular. Call buying has roughly doubled put buying during the past 10 days at the International Securities Exchange (ISE), Chicago Board Options Exchange (CBOE), and NASDAQ OMX PHLX (PHLX). Moreover, call open interest outweighs put open interest among contracts expiring within three months, based on the equity's Schaeffer's put/call open interest ratio (SOIR) of 0.86.
No matter how options traders are approaching ATVI, near-term premiums look attractive. For example, the stock has a Schaeffer's Volatility Index (SVI) of 27%, which ranks just 10 percentage points from a 12-month low. In other words, short-term volatility expectations are unusually muted.
Elsewhere, it's worth calling out the sharp rise in short interest on Activision Blizzard in recent weeks. The number of shares sold short has more than doubled since early August, including a sharp 62.5% rise in the last two reporting periods. As it stands now, the security's short-interest ratio stands at a healthy 3.20.