Someone with a lot of money to spend has taken a bearish stance on Carnival (NYSE:CCL).
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 CCL, 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 54 uncommon options trades for Carnival.
This isn't normal.
The overall sentiment of these big-money traders is split between 38% bullish and 61%, bearish.
Out of all of the special options we uncovered, 13 are puts, for a total amount of $1,499,636, and 41 are calls, for a total amount of $2,126,334.
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 $10.0 to $25.0 for Carnival over the last 3 months.
Volume & Open Interest Development
In terms of liquidity and interest, the mean open interest for Carnival options trades today is 14666.19 with a total volume of 142,003.00.
In the following chart, we are able to follow the development of volume and open interest of call and put options for Carnival's big money trades within a strike price range of $10.0 to $25.0 over the last 30 days.
Carnival 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| CCL | PUT | TRADE | BEARISH | 07/15/22 | $17.50 | $393.0K | 8.3K | 5.6K |
| CCL | PUT | TRADE | BEARISH | 07/15/22 | $17.50 | $345.8K | 8.3K | 2.6K |
| CCL | CALL | SWEEP | BEARISH | 01/19/24 | $10.00 | $307.4K | 2.9K | 324 |
| CCL | PUT | TRADE | BULLISH | 01/20/23 | $12.50 | $240.0K | 37.6K | 3.0K |
| CCL | CALL | SWEEP | BULLISH | 01/19/24 | $15.00 | $138.0K | 7.7K | 822 |
Where Is Carnival Standing Right Now?
- With a volume of 35,120,526, the price of CCL is up 5.4% at $19.51.
- RSI indicators hint that the underlying stock may be approaching overbought.
- Next earnings are expected to be released in 71 days.
What The Experts Say On Carnival:
- Jefferies has decided to maintain their Hold rating on Carnival, which currently sits at a price target of $19.
- Deutsche Bank has decided to maintain their Hold rating on Carnival, which currently sits at a price target of $24.
- Wells Fargo downgraded its action to Underweight with a price target of $21
- Morgan Stanley has decided to maintain their Underweight rating on Carnival, which currently sits at a price target of $17.
- Truist Securities has decided to maintain their Sell rating on Carnival, which currently sits at a price target of $17.
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.
