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• HUM 86% Rate It

Humana doesn't want to say die.

The health insurer opened lower red yesterday but quickly met with heavy buying in the options and the stock. The May 90 calls were especially active, changing more than 8,000 times against open interest of 2,761 contracts, according to optionMONSTER's Heat Seeker system. Most of the large blocks initially priced for $1 to $1.35, but then the stock rallied and they traded for $2.35 to $2.55.

At one point HUM was down almost 3 percent, but it ended the session with a 0.5 percent gain to $89.17. Shares have been staggering since they gapped lower on a weak earnings report in early February. The stock has continued to make higher lows since then, which could be leading some chart watchers to believe that it's still trending higher.

Given that yesterday's options are vulnerable to time decay as expiration approaches, the buyer is looking for HUM to keep moving higher in the near term. (See our Education section)

Overall option volume was 18 times greater than average in the session, with calls outnumbering puts by 8 to 1.

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