Traders Buy Prudential Calls

By Pete Najarian, co-founder of OptionMonster

Prudential Financial (PRU Quote) drew upside options activity Monday after Moody's upgraded its credit outlook on Prudential at the end of last week.

Traders were focused on the July 50 options, in which 8,540 calls changed hands at nearly 10 times the open interest, according to OptionMonster's tracking systems. Most of the calls, which have an average volume of just 98 a day at that strike, were bought for 5 cents.

Prudential also saw some interest in the July 42 calls, many of which were actively bought for 40 cents. These are both well out of the money, as Prudential closed Monday up 2.8% to $37.78, so traders are apparently hoping for a significant move higher in the next three weeks until the July options expire. ...