Puts Purchased on Sterling Bancshares (SBIB)

Shares of Sterling Bancshares SBIB are higher on the session by 1.59%, currently trading at $8.96. The stock has been moving largely higher over the past six months and it is currently trading above the 50-day and 200-day moving averages. Options traders are buying puts on the name today. A short while ago the March 2011 $5.00 put was purchased 1,020 times, on the offer, for $0.10 on open interest of only 20 contracts. This signals new positioning on the name. Overall put volume is now running at 56.67x the daily average with 81% of all puts traded being purchases on the offer. Sterling Bancshares, Inc. is a bank holding company. The company operates through its wholly owned subsidiary, Sterling Bank. The company provides commercial and consumer banking services in the metropolitan areas of Houston, San Antonio, Dallas and Fort Worth, Texas through the 58 banking centers of the Bank.