Someone with a lot of money to spend has taken a bearish stance on Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW).
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 PANW, 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 49 uncommon options trades for Palo Alto Networks.
This isn't normal.
The overall sentiment of these big-money traders is split between 42% bullish and 57%, bearish.
Out of all of the special options we uncovered, 8 are puts, for a total amount of $332,330, and 41 are calls, for a total amount of $15,972,712.
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 $320.0 to $700.0 for Palo Alto Networks over the last 3 months.
Volume & Open Interest Development
In terms of liquidity and interest, the mean open interest for Palo Alto Networks options trades today is 749.53 with a total volume of 17,596.00.
In the following chart, we are able to follow the development of volume and open interest of call and put options for Palo Alto Networks's big money trades within a strike price range of $320.0 to $700.0 over the last 30 days.
Palo Alto Networks 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PANW | CALL | SWEEP | BULLISH | 09/16/22 | $500.00 | $1.4M | 1.6K | 989 |
| PANW | CALL | TRADE | BULLISH | 09/16/22 | $500.00 | $1.3M | 1.6K | 1.2K |
| PANW | CALL | TRADE | NEUTRAL | 09/16/22 | $500.00 | $788.6K | 1.6K | 50 |
| PANW | CALL | TRADE | BEARISH | 09/16/22 | $500.00 | $776.6K | 1.6K | 600 |
| PANW | CALL | SWEEP | BEARISH | 09/16/22 | $500.00 | $769.8K | 1.6K | 300 |
Where Is Palo Alto Networks Standing Right Now?
- With a volume of 886,112, the price of PANW is down -3.22% at $606.0.
- RSI indicators hint that the underlying stock is currently neutral between overbought and oversold.
- Next earnings are expected to be released in 28 days.
What The Experts Say On Palo Alto Networks:
- Truist Securities has decided to maintain their Buy rating on Palo Alto Networks, which currently sits at a price target of $675.
- BTIG has decided to maintain their Buy rating on Palo Alto Networks, which currently sits at a price target of $720.
- RBC Capital has decided to maintain their Outperform rating on Palo Alto Networks, which currently sits at a price target of $710.
- Wedbush has decided to maintain their Outperform rating on Palo Alto Networks, which currently sits at a price target of $660.
- Keybanc has decided to maintain their Overweight rating on Palo Alto Networks, which currently sits at a price target of $729.
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.
