Option Bulls Roll the Dice on Facebook, Inc. (FB)

Facebook Inc (FB) received a pair of price-target hikes this morning

Digital Content Group

Mar 27, 2015 at 11:53 AM

Facebook Inc (NASDAQ:FB) is sitting 0.4% higher around midday at $83.37, following a pair of price-target hikes. Specifically, Barclays upped its target to $98 from $88 and Baird raised its target to $96 from $93 -- never-before-seen territory -- with both firms reiterating the equivalent of a "buy" rating. Turning to the social network's options pits, call volume nearly triples put volume, and the stock's 30-day at-the-money implied volatility is up 4.1% to 31.7%, hinting at increased demand for short-term strikes.

Among the calls seeing possible buy-to-open activity are the weekly 3/27 83.50, weekly 4/2 83, and May 80 strikes. If this theory proves true, the buyers anticipate FB will settle atop the various levels at the respective expiration dates.

FB calls have been the options of choice during recent months at the International Securities Exchange (ISE), Chicago Board Options Exchange (CBOE), and NASDAQ OMX PHLX (PHLX). The stock's 50-day call/put volume ratio of 2.56 outranks 87% of all similar readings from the last year, suggesting speculators have been buying to open calls over puts at a faster-than-usual clip.

And why not? Facebook Inc (NASDAQ:FB) has been a technical beast. Over the past 12 month, the shares have advanced 39%. Earlier this week, in fact, the stock reached a record high of $86.07.

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