Behind the Scenes of BlackRock's Latest Options Trends

Investors with a lot of money to spend have taken a bullish stance on BlackRock BLK.

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 BLK, 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 12 uncommon options trades for BlackRock.

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 $86,180, and 9 are calls, for a total amount of $383,280.

What's The Price Target?

After evaluating the trading volumes and Open Interest, it's evident that the major market movers are focusing on a price band between $650.0 and $780.0 for BlackRock, spanning the last three months.

Analyzing Volume & Open Interest

Examining the volume and open interest provides crucial insights into stock research. This information is key in gauging liquidity and interest levels for BlackRock's options at certain strike prices. Below, we present a snapshot of the trends in volume and open interest for calls and puts across BlackRock's significant trades, within a strike price range of $650.0 to $780.0, over the past month.

BlackRock Option Volume And Open Interest Over Last 30 Days

Significant Options Trades Detected:

About BlackRock

BlackRock is the largest asset manager in the world, with $9.101 trillion in AUM at the end of September 2023. Product mix is fairly diverse, with 52% of the firm's managed assets in equity strategies, 28% in fixed income, 9% in multi-asset class, 8% in money market funds, and 3% in alternatives. Passive strategies account for around two thirds of long-term AUM, with the company's ETF platform maintaining a leading market share domestically and on a global basis. Product distribution is weighted more toward institutional clients, which by our calculations account for around 80% of AUM. BlackRock is also geographically diverse, with clients in more than 100 countries and more than one third of managed assets coming from investors domiciled outside the U.S. and Canada.

After a thorough review of the options trading surrounding BlackRock, we move to examine the company in more detail. This includes an assessment of its current market status and performance.

BlackRock's Current Market Status

• Currently trading with a volume of 463,948, the BLK's price is up by 5.32%, now at $696.63.
• RSI readings suggest the stock is currently may be approaching overbought.
• Anticipated earnings release is in 59 days.

Expert Opinions on BlackRock

A total of 2 professional analysts have given their take on this stock in the last 30 days, setting an average price target of $802.5.

• An analyst from Morgan Stanley has decided to maintain their Overweight rating on BlackRock, which currently sits at a price target of $897.
• An analyst from JP Morgan persists with their Overweight rating on BlackRock, maintaining a target price of $708.

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 BlackRock, Benzinga Pro gives you real-time options trades alerts.