Protection Sold on Altria Group (MO)

Shares of Altria Group (NYSE: MO) are higher on the session by 3.81%, currently trading at $20.45. The stock has been drifting lower over the past two months, but is now popping off the 200-day moving average on the heels of the Supreme Court’s decision to not consider a long-running tobacco case.

Options traders are selling out of their put positions in size following that decision. The July $19 put was sold over 45,000 times on open interest of 62,426 contracts and the July $20 put was sold 35,000 times on open interest of 82,914 contracts.

These are likely closing transactions.

Altria Group, Inc. is a holding company. As of December 31, 2009, Altria Group, Inc.'s wholly owned subsidiaries included Philip Morris USA Inc., which is engaged in the manufacture and sale of cigarettes and certain smokeless products in the United States; UST LLC, which through its subsidiaries is engaged in the manufacture and sale of smokeless products and wine, and John Middleton Co., which is engaged in the manufacture and sale of machine-made large cigars and pipe tobacco.