According to an item on financial news website TheStreet.com, rumors of an acquisition by Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd. (Nasdaq: TEVA; TASE: TEVA) pushed shares and options of Watson Pharmaceuticals (NYSE: WPI) to higher than normal volumes yesterday.
Shares in Watson rose 3.49% to $30.81 yesterday, on volume of 3.89 million shares. The 3 month average volume of shares traded in Watson is 1.86 million.
Watson call options expiring in May, with strike prices of $30 and $35, made up most of the options trading. Trading volume has averaged 1,700 options, while yesterday's trade reached 10,500 just in the first half hour of trade. The options figures were reported in an item by Jon Najarian.
Watson Pharmaceuticals is the world's fifth largest generic pharmaceuticals company. Its market cap is $3.22 billion. Teva's market cap is $39.03 billion.
Shares in Teva closed yesterday at $43.92.
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on April 22, 2009
© Copyright of Globes Publisher Itonut (1983) Ltd. 2009