Someone with a lot of money to spend has taken a bearish stance on Walmart (NYSE:WMT).
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 WMT, 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 20 uncommon options trades for Walmart.
This isn't normal.
The overall sentiment of these big-money traders is split between 45% bullish and 55%, bearish.
Out of all of the special options we uncovered, 8 are puts, for a total amount of $386,699, and 12 are calls, for a total amount of $1,199,050.
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 $125.0 to $200.0 for Walmart over the last 3 months.
Volume & Open Interest Development
In terms of liquidity and interest, the mean open interest for Walmart options trades today is 2559.33 with a total volume of 13,484.00.
In the following chart, we are able to follow the development of volume and open interest of call and put options for Walmart's big money trades within a strike price range of $125.0 to $200.0 over the last 30 days.
Walmart 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| WMT | CALL | TRADE | BEARISH | 08/26/22 | $130.00 | $446.2K | 1.7K | 1.3K |
| WMT | CALL | SWEEP | BEARISH | 11/18/22 | $145.00 | $255.3K | 1.0K | 1.0K |
| WMT | PUT | SWEEP | BULLISH | 01/20/23 | $130.00 | $89.7K | 9.0K | 256 |
| WMT | CALL | TRADE | BULLISH | 09/16/22 | $132.00 | $85.0K | 1.3K | 202 |
| WMT | PUT | TRADE | BEARISH | 08/26/22 | $135.00 | $70.5K | 1.7K | 2.7K |
Where Is Walmart Standing Right Now?
- With a volume of 5,356,058, the price of WMT is down -3.1% at $131.66.
- RSI indicators hint that the underlying stock is currently neutral between overbought and oversold.
- Next earnings are expected to be released in 81 days.
What The Experts Say On Walmart:
- Oppenheimer has decided to maintain their Outperform rating on Walmart, which currently sits at a price target of $155.
- Raymond James has decided to maintain their Outperform rating on Walmart, which currently sits at a price target of $150.
- DA Davidson has decided to maintain their Buy rating on Walmart, which currently sits at a price target of $163.
- Deutsche Bank has decided to maintain their Buy rating on Walmart, which currently sits at a price target of $162.
- Citigroup has decided to maintain their Buy rating on Walmart, which currently sits at a price target of $162.
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 Walmart, Benzinga Pro gives you real-time options trades alerts.
