Looking At McDonald's's Recent Unusual Options Activity

Someone with a lot of money to spend has taken a bearish stance on McDonald's MCD.

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 MCD, 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 11 uncommon options trades for McDonald's.

This isn't normal.

The overall sentiment of these big-money traders is split between 27% bullish and 72%, bearish.

Out of all of the special options we uncovered, 5 are puts, for a total amount of $213,875, and 6 are calls, for a total amount of $1,042,441.

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 $220.0 to $300.0 for McDonald's 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 McDonald's'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 McDonald's's whale activity within a strike price range from $220.0 to $300.0 in the last 30 days.

McDonald's Option Volume And Open Interest Over Last 30 Days

Biggest Options Spotted:

Where Is McDonald's Standing Right Now?

• With a volume of 2,220,363, the price of MCD is down -0.76% at $267.72.
• RSI indicators hint that the underlying stock may be oversold.
• Next earnings are expected to be released in 30 days.

What The Experts Say On McDonald's:

• Truist Securities has decided to maintain their Buy rating on McDonald's, which currently sits at a price target of $335.
• Tigress Financial has decided to maintain their Buy rating on McDonald's, which currently sits at a price target of $355.
• Wells Fargo upgraded its action to Overweight with a price target of $310
• TD Cowen downgraded its action to Outperform with a price target of $340

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 McDonald's, Benzinga Pro gives you real-time options trades alerts.