Benzinga | Dec 30, 2021 01:16PM EST

Looking At Starbucks's Recent Whale Trades

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

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 SBUX, 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 16 uncommon options trades for Starbucks.

This isn't normal.

The overall sentiment of these big-money traders is split between 37% bullish and 62%, bearish.

Out of all of the special options we uncovered, 5 are puts, for a total amount of $370,132, and 11 are calls, for a total amount of $456,721.

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 $97.5 to $125.0 for Starbucks over the last 3 months.

Volume & Open Interest Development

Looking at the volume and open interest is a powerful move while trading options. This data can help you track the liquidity and interest for Starbucks'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 Starbucks's whale trades within a strike price range from $97.5 to $125.0 in the last 30 days.

Starbucks 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 InterestSBUX PUT TRADE BULLISH 01/20/ $97.50 $228.0K 1.7K 0 23SBUX CALL SWEEP BULLISH 01/21/ $118.00 $61.7K 391 503 22SBUX CALL TRADE NEUTRAL 02/04/ $115.00 $54.0K 60 240 22SBUX CALL TRADE BEARISH 02/04/ $115.00 $54.0K 60 120 22SBUX CALL SWEEP BEARISH 01/28/ $118.00 $53.0K 316 273 22

Where Is Starbucks Standing Right Now?

* With a volume of 1,765,675, the price of SBUX is up 0.3% at $116.73.

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

* Next earnings are expected to be released in 26 days.

What The Experts Say On Starbucks:

* Baird downgraded its action to Neutral with a price target of $116

* Barclays has decided to maintain their Overweight rating on Starbucks, which currently sits at a price target of $136.

* MKM Partners upgraded its action to Buy with a price target of $130

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.