Someone with a lot of money to spend has taken a bearish stance on Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS).
And retail traders should know.
We noticed this today when the big position showed up on publicly available options history that we track here at Benzinga.
Whether this is an institution or just a wealthy individual, we don't know. But when something this big happens with MS, it often means somebody knows something is about to happen.
So how do we know what this whale just did?
Today, Benzinga's options scanner spotted 17 uncommon options trades for Morgan Stanley.
This isn't normal.
The overall sentiment of these big-money traders is split between 35% bullish and 64%, bearish.
Out of all of the special options we uncovered, 11 are puts, for a total amount of $670,286, and 6 are calls, for a total amount of $314,800.
What's The Price Target?
Taking into account the Volume and Open Interest on these contracts, it appears that whales have been targeting a price range from $72.5 to $125.0 for Morgan Stanley over the last 3 months.
Volume & Open Interest Development
Looking at the volume and open interest is an insightful way to conduct due diligence on a stock.
This data can help you track the liquidity and interest for Morgan Stanley's options for a given strike price.
Below, we can observe the evolution of the volume and open interest of calls and puts, respectively, for all of Morgan Stanley's whale activity within a strike price range from $72.5 to $125.0 in the last 30 days.
Morgan Stanley Option Volume And Open Interest Over Last 30 Days
Biggest Options Spotted:
| Symbol | PUT/CALL | Trade Type | Sentiment | Exp. Date | Strike Price | Total Trade Price | Open Interest | Volume |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| MS | PUT | TRADE | BULLISH | 01/17/25 | $125.00 | $138.7K | 0 | 30 |
| MS | PUT | SWEEP | BEARISH | 03/17/23 | $72.50 | $101.7K | 3.2K | 390 |
| MS | CALL | TRADE | BEARISH | 06/21/24 | $87.50 | $86.5K | 4 | 84 |
| MS | PUT | TRADE | BEARISH | 01/20/23 | $75.00 | $81.9K | 9.4K | 228 |
| MS | PUT | TRADE | NEUTRAL | 10/28/22 | $85.00 | $68.2K | 50 | 559 |
Where Is Morgan Stanley Standing Right Now?
- With a volume of 4,485,721, the price of MS is up 2.68% at $79.21.
- RSI indicators hint that the underlying stock is currently neutral between overbought and oversold.
- Next earnings are expected to be released in 92 days.
What The Experts Say On Morgan Stanley:
- Barclays has decided to maintain their Overweight rating on Morgan Stanley, which currently sits at a price target of $105.
- Credit Suisse has decided to maintain their Outperform rating on Morgan Stanley, which currently sits at a price target of $97.
- Atlantic Equities downgraded its action to Neutral with a price target of $85
- Goldman Sachs has decided to maintain their Buy rating on Morgan Stanley, which currently sits at a price target of $93.
- Citigroup has decided to maintain their Buy rating on Morgan Stanley, which currently sits at a price target of $90.
Options are a riskier asset compared to just trading the stock, but they have higher profit potential. Serious options traders manage this risk by educating themselves daily, scaling in and out of trades, following more than one indicator, and following the markets closely.
If you want to stay updated on the latest options trades for Morgan Stanley, Benzinga Pro gives you real-time options trades alerts.
