There was unusual trading activity in Cooper Cos. stock before the medical-devices company announced two disappointing developments after the close of trading on Wednesday.

The drop in share price late in the session and heavy put option buying suggest that an investor or investors anticipated two pieces of news: Cooper's decision not to sell a business unit and a cut in its earnings and sales outlook.

It's also possible word got out before the company disclosed the news in two news releases that were released about 4:15 p.m. Eastern Time-and investors traded on it.

Cooper didn't respond to requests for comment.

Cooper, a leading maker of contact lenses, surprised Wall Street by opting not to sell its women's health and fertility business, CooperSurgical, after raising investor expectations about a disposition on its earnings conference call in June. The guidance cut was for its current fiscal year ending in October.

On Wednesday, the stock started to drop just after 2:30 p.m. on heavier-than-usual volume, falling 5% from $67 a share to $63.48 at the market's close at 4 p.m. On Thursday, the stock fell 15% to $54.17 after hitting a new 52-week low in the session.

In coverage of the price drop on Thursday, Barron's wrote that Cooper "sprung a surprise that no one saw coming."

Total volume was 9.5 million shares on Wednesday, up from 2.9 million on Tuesday and an average of under 2 million a day in the previous ior 30 days.

Put option activity stands out. It totaled more than 11,000 contracts on Wednesday, by far the highest volume in five years and up from an average of under 100 contracts a day in the prior three months leading up to last week. The put activity is equivalent to 1.1 million shares with each call and put contract covering 100 shares.

Put options amount to a bearish bet on a stock, giving investors the opportunity to sell the stock at a fixed price.

There often is active trading in a stock and stock options before a major earnings or corporate announcement.

So the trading action in Cooper simply could represent a correct bet by some investors that the news would be bad. There also could have been hedging activity by investors who held the stock in case the news was unfavorable.

One option trade that looks like a hedge was the simultaneous sale of 2,000 September call options with a strike price of $75 a share and the purchase of 2,000 contracts of the September 60-65 strike put spread.

That combined trade is a winner now with Cooper stock under $60 both on the call and put sides of the trade. This trade was highlighted by Susquehanna Financial Group on Wednesday.

Still, the heavy trading and the high put volume indicate the possibility that someone knew about the Cooper news before it became public and traded on it.

The Securities and Exchange Commission didn't respond to a request for comment.

On Monday, shares were trading at $54.64, up 1.4%.