Apple Grabs Scorsese Film From Competition

Apple just landed Martin Scorcese's latest film, beating out several competitors including Netflix

Apple Inc. (NASDQ:AAPL) just announced that director Martin Scorsese's next film, "Killers of the Flower Moon" -- starring Leonardo DiCaprio and Robert De Niro -- will launch on its Apple TV streaming service, according to a report from the Wall Street Journal. This is a win for Apple over several of its competitors, including Netflix (NFLX), which produced Scorcese's last movie. At last check, AAPL is down 0.9% at $315.29.

The blue chip also garnered a price-target hike from J.P. Morgan Securities this morning, to $365 from $350. Coming into today, the consensus 12-month price target of $312.28 sat at a 1.8% discount to current levels. Meanwhile, 21 analysts have "buy" or better ratings on the table, compared to just five calling Apple stock a "sell" or worse.

The security just touched a three-month peak of $324.24 earlier this week, which sits just below its Jan. 29 all-time high of $327.85. The stock has cooled from this level since but is still managing to find its footing at the 10-day moving average -- a trendline that has mostly kept AAPL's pullbacks in check since late March.

Options players have been unusually bearish of late. While calls are still running at a quicker clip than puts, per AAPL's 50-day put/call ratio of 0.75 at the International Securities Exchange (ISE), Cboe Options Exchange (CBOE), and NASDAQ OMX PHLX (PHLX). This ratio sits in the 74th percentile of its annual range, suggesting a healthier-than-usual appetite for long puts of late.

Regardless of Apple stock's next move, options are incredibly cheap right now. AAPL's Schaeffer's Volatility Index (SVI) of 27% stands higher than just 12% of all other readings from the past year. This means options players have been pricing in relatively low volatility expectations at the moment.