Benzinga | Oct 19, 2021 12:06PM EDT

What Are Whales Doing With Walmart

Someone with a lot of money to spend (and possibly insider knowledge) has taken a bullish 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 21 uncommon options trades for Walmart.

This isn't normal.

The overall sentiment of these big-money traders is split between 52.38% bullish and 47.62%, bearish.

Out of all of the special options we uncovered, 5 are puts, for a total amount of $521,233, and 16 are calls, for a total amount of $2,949,032.

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 $130.0 to $150.0 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 8694.44 with a total volume of 40,504.

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 $130.0 to $150.0 over the last 30 days.

Walmart Option Volume And Open Interest Over Last 30 Days

Biggest Options Spotted:

Symbol PUT/ Trade Sentiment Exp. Strike Total Trade Open Volume CALL Type Date Price Price InterestWMT CALL SWEEP BEARISH 10/22/ $142.00 $888.9K 11.1K 5.4K 21WMT CALL SWEEP BEARISH 11/19/ $145.00 $620.0K 11.3K 3.4K 21WMT CALL SWEEP BEARISH 10/22/ $142.00 $421.3K 11.1K 1.4K 21WMT CALL SWEEP BULLISH 11/19/ $145.00 $225.6K 11.3K 4.7K 21WMT CALL SWEEP BEARISH 11/19/ $145.00 $167.4K 11.3K 4.0K 21

Where Is Walmart Standing Right Now?

* With a volume of 4,848,083, the price of WMT is up 1.61% at $143.96.

* RSI indicators hint that the underlying stock may be approaching overbought.

* Next earnings are expected to be released in 28 days.

What The Experts Say On Walmart:

* Goldman Sachs has decided to maintain their Buy rating on Walmart, which currently sits at a price target of $196.0.

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 are already an options trader or would like to get started, head on over to Benzinga Pro. Benzinga Pro gives you up-to-date news and analytics to empower your investing and trading strategy.