Microsoft stock is trading at its highest level since late July after a dividend update
Microsoft Corp (NASDAQ:MSFT) stock is up 2.3% to trade at $441.13 this morning, propping up the Dow, after the blue-chip tech titan announced a new $60 billion share buyback plan. Microsoft also hiked its quarterly dividend by 10.7% to 83 cents per share.
MSFT is trading at its highest level since a July 24 bear gap. The shares are still in the red for the quarter thanks to the Big Tech correction in July and August, but the $400 level stepped up as a floor. Year-to-date, Microsoft is up 16.8%.
Puts have been growing in popularity. MSFT sports a 10-day put/call volume ratio of 0.85 on the International Securities Exchange (ISE), Chicago Board Options Exchange (CBOE), and NASDAQ OMX PHLX (PHLX). While calls still outflank puts on an absolute basis, the ratio ranks two percentage points from an annual high, meaning buyers have rarely shown a greater appetite for bearish bets during the past year. Echoing this, the stock’s Schaeffer’s put/call open interest ratio (SOIR) of 0.98 ranks in the 88th percentile of its annual range, showing there is an unusual put-skew in the front three-months’ series.
Today, however, call volume is running at triple the average intraday amount and more than three times the number of puts traded. The most popular contract is the September 445 call, while new positions are being bought to open at the 440 and 450-strikes in the same standard series that expires on Friday.