Puts Purchased on BancorpSouth (BXS)

Shares of BancorpSouth BXS are higher on the session by 9.12%, currently trading at $15.91. The stock has been moving largely lower over the past six months and is currently consolidating between the 50-day and 200-day moving averages. Options traders are buying puts on the name today. A short while ago the February 2011 $12.50 put was purchased 2,000 times, on the offer, on open interest of only 294 contracts. This signals new positioning on the name. Overall put volume is now running at 6.45x the daily average with 94% of all puts traded being purchases on the offer. BancorpSouth, Inc. is a financial holding company. Through its principal bank subsidiary, BancorpSouth Bank, the company conducts commercial banking and financial services operations in Mississippi, Tennessee, Alabama, Arkansas, Texas, Louisiana, Florida, Missouri and Illinois.