Benzinga | Nov 19, 2021 01:18PM EST

Check Out What Whales Are Doing With MSFT

Someone with a lot of money to spend has taken a bearish stance on Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT).

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 MSFT, 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 48 uncommon options trades for Microsoft.

This isn't normal.

The overall sentiment of these big-money traders is split between 37.5% bullish and 62.5%, bearish.

Out of all of the special options we uncovered, 6 are puts, for a total amount of $287,840.00, and 42 are calls, for a total amount of $2,863,110.00.

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 $190.0 to $420.0 for Microsoft over the last 3 months.

Volume & Open Interest Development

In terms of liquidity and interest, the mean open interest for Microsoft options trades today is 4471.0 with a total volume of 37,647.00.

In the following chart, we are able to follow the development of volume and open interest of call and put options for Microsoft's big money trades within a strike price range of $190.0 to $420.0 over the last 30 days.

Microsoft 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 InterestMSFT CALL SWEEP BEARISH 06/17/ $340.00 $487.5K 2.1K 411 22MSFT CALL TRADE BULLISH 03/18/ $285.00 $155.7K 1.5K 25 22MSFT CALL SWEEP BULLISH 11/19/ $337.50 $153.0K 4.8K 901 21MSFT CALL TRADE BEARISH 09/16/ $320.00 $116.8K 7.1K 27 22MSFT CALL SWEEP BEARISH 11/19/ $340.00 $113.2K 15.9K 4.0K 21

Where Is Microsoft Standing Right Now?

* With a volume of 10,071,114.00, the price of MSFT is up 0.7% at $343.65.

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

* Next earnings are expected to be released in 67 days.

What The Experts Say On Microsoft:

* Goldman Sachs has decided to maintain their Buy rating on Microsoft, which currently sits at a price target of $400.0.

* Keybanc has decided to maintain their Overweight rating on Microsoft, which currently sits at a price target of $365.0.

* Stifel has decided to maintain their Buy rating on Microsoft, which currently sits at a price target of $380.0.

* Barclays has decided to maintain their Overweight rating on Microsoft, which currently sits at a price target of $363.0.

* Credit Suisse has decided to maintain their Outperform rating on Microsoft, which currently sits at a price target of $340.0.

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.