Behind the Scenes of Carnival's Latest Options Trends

Investors with a lot of money to spend have taken a bullish stance on Carnival CCL.

And retail traders should know.

We noticed this today when the trades showed up on publicly available options history that we track here at Benzinga.

Whether these are institutions or just wealthy individuals, we don't know. But when something this big happens with CCL, it often means somebody knows something is about to happen.

So how do we know what these investors just did?

Today, Benzinga's options scanner spotted 8 uncommon options trades for Carnival.

This isn't normal.

The overall sentiment of these big-money traders is split between 50% bullish and 50%, bearish.

Out of all of the special options we uncovered, 3 are puts, for a total amount of $131,388, and 5 are calls, for a total amount of $259,498.

Expected Price Movements

Analyzing the Volume and Open Interest in these contracts, it seems that the big players have been eyeing a price window from $13.0 to $17.0 for Carnival during the past quarter.

Volume & Open Interest Development

In today's trading context, the average open interest for options of Carnival stands at 7445.4, with a total volume reaching 6,924.00. The accompanying chart delineates the progression of both call and put option volume and open interest for high-value trades in Carnival, situated within the strike price corridor from $13.0 to $17.0, throughout the last 30 days.

Carnival Call and Put Volume: 30-Day Overview

Biggest Options Spotted:

About Carnival

Carnival is the largest global cruise company, with 92 ships in service at the end of fiscal 2023. Its portfolio of brands includes Carnival Cruise Lines, Holland America, Princess Cruises, and Seabourn in North America; P&O Cruises and Cunard Line in the United Kingdom; Aida in Germany; Costa Cruises in Southern Europe. It's currently folding its P&O Australia brand into Carnival. The firm also owns Holland America Princess Alaska Tours in Alaska and the Canadian Yukon. Carnival's brands attracted nearly 13 million guests in 2019, prior to covid-19, a level it reached again in 2023.

Following our analysis of the options activities associated with Carnival, we pivot to a closer look at the company's own performance.

Current Position of Carnival

• Trading volume stands at 18,038,599, with CCL's price up by 1.85%, positioned at $14.87.
• RSI indicators show the stock to be may be oversold.
• Earnings announcement expected in 45 days.

What The Experts Say On Carnival

Over the past month, 3 industry analysts have shared their insights on this stock, proposing an average target price of $20.0.

• An analyst from JP Morgan has decided to maintain their Overweight rating on Carnival, which currently sits at a price target of $25.
• Maintaining their stance, an analyst from Truist Securities continues to hold a Hold rating for Carnival, targeting a price of $20.
• Consistent in their evaluation, an analyst from Morgan Stanley keeps a Underweight rating on Carnival with a target price of $15.

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 want to stay updated on the latest options trades for Carnival, Benzinga Pro gives you real-time options trades alerts.