An investor who bought 759 bullish AirTran Holdings Inc. options last week captured a 14-fold gain Monday after Southwest Airlines Co. agreed to buy the company.
Trading of November $5 calls on Sept. 21 was triple the four-week daily average for all AirTran contracts, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.
The calls, which changed hands for 15 cents, surged to open at $2.15 Monday. AirTran shares rose 61 percent to close at $7.34. It was the first close above $5 for the Orlando, Fla.-based carrier since June.
“It does appear suspicious,” said Henry Schwartz, president of Trade Alert LLC, a New York-based provider of options-market analytics. “Somebody may have had some information that something was in the works.”
Christi McNeill, a spokeswoman for Southwest, didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.
Christopher White, a spokesman for AirTran, didn’t return a call for comment. John Nester of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission declined to comment.
