Final answer:
B. The owner of a call option has the right to exercise the contract to buy shares at the strike price from the writer of the option, who is then obligated to sell the shares if the option is exercised.
Step-by-step explanation:
In options trading, the correct explanation regarding owners and writers of listed equity option call contracts is that B) The owner of a call has the right to exercise the contract, and the writer would then be assigned and obligated to sell shares to the owner at the strike price. Essentially, the call option owner purchases the right, but not the obligation, to buy an underlying asset (in this case, shares of stock of a public company) at the agreed-upon strike price, within a specific period. The writer (or seller) of the call is the one who provides this right to the option owner and thus has the obligation to sell the shares at the strike price if the owner decides to exercise the option.
Shareholders of a public company have a broad range of rights including voting for the board of directors, which is a key aspect of corporate governance. A shareholder's influence is generally proportionate to the amount of stock they own. Options are one of the many financial instruments that can be utilized by investors to potentially benefit from movements in a company's stock price.