Looking At Carnival's Recent Unusual Options Activity

Someone with a lot of money to spend has taken a bearish stance on Carnival CCL.

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 CCL, 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 33 uncommon options trades for Carnival.

This isn't normal.

The overall sentiment of these big-money traders is split between 36% bullish and 63%, bearish.

Out of all of the special options we uncovered, 8 are puts, for a total amount of $866,087, and 25 are calls, for a total amount of $1,190,228.

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 $7.0 to $28.0 for Carnival over the last 3 months.

Volume & Open Interest Development

Looking at the volume and open interest is an insightful way to conduct due diligence on a stock.

This data can help you track the liquidity and interest for Carnival'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 Carnival's whale activity within a strike price range from $7.0 to $28.0 in the last 30 days.

Carnival Option Volume And Open Interest Over Last 30 Days

Biggest Options Spotted:

Where Is Carnival Standing Right Now?

• With a volume of 42,319,340, the price of CCL is down -2.57% at $18.72.
• RSI indicators hint that the underlying stock may be overbought.
• Next earnings are expected to be released in 75 days.

What The Experts Say On Carnival:

• Truist Securities downgraded its action to Sell with a price target of $11
• Citigroup has decided to maintain their Buy rating on Carnival, which currently sits at a price target of $18.
• Citigroup has decided to maintain their Buy rating on Carnival, which currently sits at a price target of $18.
• Deutsche Bank has decided to maintain their Hold rating on Carnival, which currently sits at a price target of $15.
• B of A Securities upgraded its action to Buy with a price target of $20

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.