Question

ABC Corporation, after many profitable years, declares a one-time special cash dividend of $10.00 per share. After the announcement, the stock is trading at $100 per share. Your customer holds 1 ABC Jan 110 Call. As of the ex date, the customer will have:

Answer 1

Answer:

1 ABC Jan 100 Call

Explanation:

Although the OCC does not usually adjust the strike price of listed options for regular quarterly cash dividends. This is because they are known quantity that are segmented by the market into options premium.

For special cash dividends, they are not a frequent event hence market does not recognize them. This special cash dividend is $10 per share × 100 shares = $1,000 value per contract. It therefore means that the $1,000 value per contract will be adjusted.

The new strike price will be

= 110 - 10 cash dividend

= 100. It also means that the number of shares covered by the contract does not change.