Benzinga | Jan 25, 2022 11:38AM EST

Looking At Verizon Communications's Recent Whale Trades

Someone with a lot of money to spend has taken a bullish stance on Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ).

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 VZ, 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 12 uncommon options trades for Verizon Communications.

This isn't normal.

The overall sentiment of these big-money traders is split between 66% bullish and 33%, bearish.

Out of all of the special options we uncovered, 4 are puts, for a total amount of $260,793, and 8 are calls, for a total amount of $353,259.

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 $45.0 to $57.5 for Verizon Communications over the last 3 months.

Volume & Open Interest Development

In terms of liquidity and interest, the mean open interest for Verizon Communications options trades today is 11538.8 with a total volume of 7,316.00.

In the following chart, we are able to follow the development of volume and open interest of call and put options for Verizon Communications's big money trades within a strike price range of $45.0 to $57.5 over the last 30 days.

Verizon Communications 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 InterestVZ PUT SWEEP BEARISH 04/14/ $52.50 $161.4K 7.2K 223 22VZ CALL TRADE BULLISH 04/14/ $45.00 $88.0K 341 0 22VZ CALL SWEEP BEARISH 01/20/ $55.00 $66.5K 18.1K 45 23VZ CALL TRADE BULLISH 01/20/ $57.50 $45.2K 28.4K 231 23VZ PUT SWEEP BULLISH 02/18/ $52.50 $40.7K 6.9K 2.0K 22

Where Is Verizon Communications Standing Right Now?

* With a volume of 11,698,270, the price of VZ is down -1.2% at $52.33.

* RSI indicators hint that the underlying stock is currently neutral between overbought and oversold.

* Next earnings are expected to be released in 0 days.

What The Experts Say On Verizon Communications:

* Tigress Financial has decided to maintain their Buy rating on Verizon Communications, which currently sits at a price target of $68.

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.