Puts Purchased in DirecTV

Shares of DirecTV DTV are higher on the session by 2.79% to $38.49 after the company was raised to “Buy” from “Neutral” over at BofA/Merrill BAC this morning. The stock has now bounced off of the 50-day moving average and is in full on bullish territory, hitting new 52-week highs. Puts are being purchased in DirecTV, though it is unclear what the motive is behind it. The September $32 put was purchased on the offer 6,000 times for $0.85 earlier in the session; open interest on the strike is 6,138. It is possible that someone who was short the puts purchased them back today. It is also possible that another 6,000 contracts were purchased as protection on long shares though this seems unlikely. We will have to wait until the open interest data resets tomorrow to know for sure.