Johnson & Johnson, Inc. (JNJ - 63.71) has been targeted by neutral-to-bullish options traders recently, as more than 12,170 puts have been sold to open over the past two weeks. In fact, during the past 10 days, speculators on the major options exchanges have sold to open 6.3 times more puts than they have purchased.
Taking a closer look at the action, we see that near-term put sellers appear to be focusing on the June 62.50 strike. Open interest at this strike consists of 12,633 contracts, and it looks like the majority of these puts were sold to open. Technically speaking, the $62.50 level hasn't been breached in intraday action since Nov. 29, 2011.
Now could be an opportune time to sell options on JNJ, as the equity's Schaeffer's Volatility Scorecard (SVS) weighs in at 16 -- implying that option premiums are currently inflated, relative to the probability of a dramatic move in the shares.
In the soon-to-be front-month June series, in fact, that popular 62.50-strike put is pricing in implied volatility of 14%, compared to JNJ's one-month historical volatility of 10.58%.