Options traders have spent four consecutive sessions piling into VICI calls at an unusual pace. The put/call ratio hit 0.36 on May 13 — nearly two standard deviations below its 20-day mean of 0.57. That's the most one-sided bullish options positioning in two months.
At the same time, short sellers are quietly building positions. Those two signals are now pulling in opposite directions.
The PCR drop is sharp and sustained. It fell from 0.60 on May 6 to 0.36 by May 13 — a move that carried it to within striking distance of its 52-week low of 0.17. Four straight sessions below 0.44 represent a decisive shift from the prior two months, when the ratio held steadily around 0.58–0.65.
This isn't a one-day spike. The persistence of the signal across multiple sessions makes it more notable.
Short interest rose 9% over the past week to 2.86% of free float — roughly 30.6 million shares. That's a meaningful one-week build for a large-cap REIT.
The borrow market tells a different story. Availability remains extremely loose. Cost to borrow sits at just 0.35%. The 52-week peak utilization was 6.83% — current levels are a fraction of that. Short sellers face no friction adding to positions here.
VICI reported Q1 results on April 29. The stock barely moved on the day. Since then, Scotiabank raised its price target to $32 and Barclays lifted its to $34.
The consensus target sits at $34.17 — roughly 21% above the current price of $28.21. That gap is wide enough to explain why call buyers are active.
Bear case: VICI remains rate-sensitive. Higher-for-longer rates compress REIT multiples, and EV/EBITDA has already ticked down to 13.7x over the past month.
BlackRock added over 11 million shares as of April 30 — the largest institutional change among top holders. Vanguard and State Street also added modestly. That institutional buying backdrop may be part of what's driving the call-side conviction.
Next earnings are scheduled for July 29. The options positioning, rising short interest, and analyst target gap all point to a stock where views are sharpening — just not yet in the same direction.
Data summary
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