Accenture draws $82 million of options premium on a record 18% jump; Solstice puts outnumber calls 53 to 1

The most unusual options activity in Thursday's session came from Accenture (ACN). By about 2 p.m. ET traders had exchanged 84,227 Accenture option contracts, 4.1 times the 10-day average, carrying about $82.3 million in premium. The shares were up 18.1% at $216.51 at that point, on the consultancy's fiscal fourth-quarter results.

Here the cause is not a mystery. Accenture's results release showed quarterly revenue of $18.68 billion, up 7% in local currency, new bookings of $22.17 billion and diluted EPS of $3.29. CNBC reported that topped LSEG estimates of $3.18 a share on $18.03 billion of revenue, and that the stock was on pace for its biggest one-day gain ever, citing FactSet. We covered the numbers inside the report in our morning story.

What the Accenture flow shows, and what it does not

Calls led, 52,199 against 32,028 puts, or 0.61 puts per call. That is far from one-sided. On a day the stock posted a move this size, a put count that large is consistent with holders protecting a sudden gain as much as with anyone positioning for a reversal. The volume alone cannot tell the two apart.

The average contract changed hands for about $977, which is expensive by the standards of the rest of today's list and reflects a $216 stock with 30-day implied volatility of 44.6%. The puts traded represent about 3.2 million shares, roughly 15% of the 20.8 million Accenture shares that had changed hands by the time of the snapshot.

The context traders are working with: the feed's record of past reports shows Accenture fell 18.0% after its June report and moved 7.9% on average, in either direction, over its last three. Thursday's gain roughly matches the June loss in percentage terms. The next report is penciled in for December 17, a date the company has not confirmed.

Solstice: 53 puts for every call, and no visible reason

The most lopsided name was Solstice Advanced Materials (SOLS). Traders exchanged 30,235 puts and 565 calls, 53 puts for every call, on total volume 8.7 times the 10-day average. The stock barely moved, up 0.03% at $56.34.

Two numbers frame it. The puts represent about 3.0 million shares, more than three times the roughly 941,000 shares of stock traded. And they were cheap: about $121 per contract on average, or $1.21 a share, for total premium of $3.7 million. That profile, many low-priced contracts with no move in the stock, is what a hedge or a spread often looks like, though it could be something else.

We looked for a cause and could not find one. The company's EDGAR filings show nothing since a batch of Form 4s on September 14, and Solstice did not appear in the day's news we track. Its next report is confirmed for November 4, before the open; over its last four reports the stock moved 7.3% on average.

The rest of the list

Table figures as of about 2 p.m. ET. Restaurant Brands was the mirror image of Solstice: 25,199 calls against 89 puts while the shares fell 2%, at an average of about $39 a contract, so only $975,000 of premium in total. Its last 8-K on EDGAR is dated August 10, and we found no news to explain the activity. Micron's $2.55 billion of premium is the largest dollar figure on the list, but it follows the quarterly results the company reported on Wednesday, which CNBC covered.

Accenture has congressional trades on file, including disclosed purchases of $1,001 to $15,000 by Rep. Scott Franklin dated August 26 and by Rep. Ro Khanna dated August 10. Solstice has two disclosed sales in the same range from August. Those disclosures can lag by up to 45 days and are not a current signal. See our congressional trades tracker.

Sources: options volume, implied volatility and market data via Robinhood; congressional trades via TipRanks (STOCK Act disclosures); filings via SEC EDGAR; Accenture results release; CNBC. Some data may be delayed. This is market information, not investment advice.