Tracking Southwest Airlines's Smart Money Trades

Someone with a lot of money to spend (and possibly insider knowledge) has taken an unusually bullish stance on Southwest Airlines.

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 LUV, it often means somebody knows something is about to happen.

So how do we know what the Smart Money just did?

Today, Benzinga's options scanner spotted 16 uncommon options trades for Southwest Airlines LUV.

This isn't normal.

The overall sentiment of these big-money traders is split between 56.25% bullish and 43.75%, bearish.

Out of all of the special options we uncovered, there was 1 put, for a total amount of $29,925, and there was 1 call, for a total amount of $641,946.

What's The Price Target?

Taking into account the Volume and Open Interest on these contracts, it appears that the smart money is targeting a price range from $45.0 to $56.0 for Southwest Airlines in the over the last 3 months.

Volume & Open Interest Development

In terms of liquidity and interest, the total open interest for Southwest Airlines big money options trades today is 40,379 with a total volume of 36,192.

In the following chart, we are able to follow the development of volume and open interest of call and put options for Southwest Airlines's big money trades within a strike price range of $45.0 to $56.0 over the last 30 days.

Southwest Airlines Option Volume And Open Interest Over Last 30 Days

Biggest Options Spotted:

Where Is Southwest Airlines Standing Right Now?

• With a volume of 6,132,657, the price of LUV is up 3.81% over the last 24 hours at $52.58.
• RSI indicators hint that the underlying stock may be approaching overbought.
• Next earnings are expected to be released in 28 days.

What The Experts Say On Southwest Airlines:

• Morgan Stanley has decided to maintain their Overweight rating on Southwest Airlines, which currently sits at a price target of $76.0.

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.