Someone with a lot of money to spend has taken a bullish stance on Southwest Airlines (NYSE:LUV).
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 LUV, 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 11 uncommon options trades for Southwest Airlines.
This isn't normal.
The overall sentiment of these big-money traders is split between 63% bullish and 36%, bearish.
Out of all of the special options we uncovered, 2 are puts, for a total amount of $153,992, and 9 are calls, for a total amount of $1,545,005.
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 $40.0 to $52.5 for Southwest Airlines over the last 3 months.
Volume & Open Interest Development
In terms of liquidity and interest, the mean open interest for Southwest Airlines options trades today is 3669.9 with a total volume of 20,048.00.
In the following chart, we are able to follow the development of volume and open interest of call and put options for Southwest Airlines's big money trades within a strike price range of $40.0 to $52.5 over the last 30 days.
Southwest Airlines 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| LUV | CALL | TRADE | BULLISH | 05/20/22 | $47.50 | $1.1M | 26.3K | 7.6K |
| LUV | PUT | SWEEP | BEARISH | 01/20/23 | $52.50 | $120.5K | 999 | 123 |
| LUV | CALL | SWEEP | BEARISH | 06/17/22 | $42.50 | $98.0K | 3.6K | 231 |
| LUV | CALL | TRADE | BULLISH | 04/14/22 | $44.00 | $70.8K | 2.4K | 1.2K |
| LUV | CALL | TRADE | NEUTRAL | 04/29/22 | $44.00 | $70.2K | 326 | 262 |
Where Is Southwest Airlines Standing Right Now?
- With a volume of 7,990,512, the price of LUV is up 7.33% at $45.96.
- RSI indicators hint that the underlying stock may be approaching overbought.
- Next earnings are expected to be released in 15 days.
What The Experts Say On Southwest Airlines:
- Morgan Stanley has decided to maintain their Overweight rating on Southwest Airlines, which currently sits at a price target of $67.
- Raymond James has decided to maintain their Outperform rating on Southwest Airlines, which currently sits at a price target of $54.
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.
