Vistra Corp (NYSE:VST) stock is up 5.6% to trade at $171.97, after the utility company revealed plans to buy Cogentrix Energy from Quantum Capital Group in a deal valued roughly $4.7 billion. The news is helping VST brush off a price-target cut from BMO to $230 from $245.
Vistra stock is pacing for its best single-day percentage pop in roughly a month. The shares have been testing a floor at $160 over the last few weeks, an area that coincides with their 320-day moving average. While VST is a ways off its Sept. 22 record high of $219.82, the equity has added 68% in the last nine months.
Calls have been preferred for some time now. Over at the International Securities Exchange (ISE), Cboe Options Exchange (CBOE), and NASDAQ OMX PHLX (PHLX), VST's 50-day call/put volume ratio of 1.60 sits higher than 85% readings from the last year.
Drilling down to today's options activity, though, and 6,679 calls and 7,478 puts have crossed the tape so far, volume that's double what's typically seen at this point. Most popular is the January 16, 2026 155-strike put, while new positions are being sold to open at the weekly 1/23 185-strike put.
Options are affordably priced at the moment, per its Schaeffer's Volatility Index (SVI) of 48% that sits higher than just 8% of readings from the last year.
