Benzinga | Nov 30, 2021 04:11PM EST

What Are Whales Doing With Walmart

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 11 uncommon options trades for Walmart.

This isn't normal.

The overall sentiment of these big-money traders is split between 27.27% bullish and 72.73%, bearish.

Out of all of the special options we uncovered, 2 are puts, for a total amount of $62,925.00, and 9 are calls, for a total amount of $481,184.00.

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 $138.0 to $150.0 for Walmart over the last 3 months.

Volume & Open Interest Development

Looking at the volume and open interest is an insightful way to conduct due diligence on a stock.

This data can help you track the liquidity and interest for Walmart's options for a given strike price.

Below, we can observe the evolution of the volume and open interest of calls and puts, respectively, for all of Walmart's whale activity within a strike price range from $138.0 to $150.0 in 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 TRADE BEARISH 12/17/ $150.00 $88.4K 18.5K 2.8K 21WMT CALL TRADE BEARISH 06/17/ $145.00 $78.0K 3.4K 190 22WMT CALL SWEEP BULLISH 03/18/ $140.00 $63.8K 2.0K 94 22WMT CALL SWEEP BULLISH 01/21/ $145.00 $57.9K 15.7K 369 22WMT CALL SWEEP BEARISH 12/03/ $147.00 $47.0K 1.6K 1.5K 21

Where Is Walmart Standing Right Now?

* With a volume of 3,625,366.00, the price of WMT is down -0.9% at $143.6.

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

* Next earnings are expected to be released in 80 days.

What The Experts Say On Walmart:

* MKM Partners upgraded its action to Buy with a price target of $166.0

* Deutsche Bank has decided to maintain their Buy rating on Walmart, which currently sits at a price target of $186.0.

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.