Shares of Eli Lilly and Co (NYSE:LLY) are sliding into the red, down 0.8% to trade at $1,066.96 at last check, amid news the pharma giant cut prices on popular weight loss drug Zepbound. The single-dose 2.5 and 5 milligram vials will be priced at $299 and $399, respectively, compared to previous prices of $349 and $499. The new pricing will be available on the company's direct-to-consumer platform LillyDirect.
LLY is headed for its third-straight daily loss, extending a pullback from last week's record high of $1,112. The equity maintains its long-term gains, however, sporting a 34% year-over-year lift.
Calls have been more popular than usual in the options pits. LLY's 50-day call/put volume ratio of 2.23 at the International Securities Exchange (ISE), Cboe Options Exchange (CBOE), and NASDAQ OMX PHLX (PHLX) ranks higher than 93% of readings from the past year.
Echoing this, the pharma name's Schaeffer's put/call open interest ratio (SOIR) of 0.70 ranks in the 27th annual percentile. In other words, short-term traders have also been placing bullish bets of late.
What's more, options are affordable. Eli Lilly stock's Schaeffer's Volatility Index (SVI) of 31% stands higher than just 16% of all other readings from the past year, implying that near-term option traders are pricing in relatively low volatility expectations.
