A Closer Look at Caterpillar's Options Market Dynamics

Deep-pocketed investors have adopted a bearish approach towards Caterpillar CAT, and it's something market players shouldn't ignore. Our tracking of public options records at Benzinga unveiled this significant move today. The identity of these investors remains unknown, but such a substantial move in CAT usually suggests something big is about to happen.

We gleaned this information from our observations today when Benzinga's options scanner highlighted 12 extraordinary options activities for Caterpillar. This level of activity is out of the ordinary.

The general mood among these heavyweight investors is divided, with 41% leaning bullish and 58% bearish. Among these notable options, 6 are puts, totaling $306,906, and 6 are calls, amounting to $238,085.

Predicted Price Range

Taking into account the Volume and Open Interest on these contracts, it appears that whales have been targeting a price range from $210.0 to $300.0 for Caterpillar over the last 3 months.

Volume & Open Interest Development

In today's trading context, the average open interest for options of Caterpillar stands at 1228.92, with a total volume reaching 1,313.00. The accompanying chart delineates the progression of both call and put option volume and open interest for high-value trades in Caterpillar, situated within the strike price corridor from $210.0 to $300.0, throughout the last 30 days.

Caterpillar 30-Day Option Volume & Interest Snapshot

Largest Options Trades Observed:

About Caterpillar

Caterpillar is the premier manufacturer of heavy equipment, power solutions, and locomotives. It is currently the world's largest manufacturer of heavy equipment with over 13% market share in 2021. The company is divided into four reportable segments: construction industries, resource industries, energy and transportation, and Caterpillar Financial Services. Its products are available through a dealer network that covers the globe with about 2,700 branches maintained by 160 dealers. Caterpillar Financial Services provides retail financing for machinery and engines to its customers, in addition to wholesale financing for dealers, which increases the likelihood of Caterpillar product sales.

Present Market Standing of Caterpillar

• Trading volume stands at 1,743,865, with CAT's price up by 3.03%, positioned at $248.99.
• RSI indicators show the stock to be is currently neutral between overbought and oversold.
• Earnings announcement expected in 77 days.

Professional Analyst Ratings for Caterpillar

In the last month, 3 experts released ratings on this stock with an average target price of $296.3333333333333.

• Maintaining their stance, an analyst from JP Morgan continues to hold a Overweight rating for Caterpillar, targeting a price of $320.
• Maintaining their stance, an analyst from Tigress Financial continues to hold a Buy rating for Caterpillar, targeting a price of $295.
• An analyst from Goldman Sachs has decided to maintain their Buy rating on Caterpillar, which currently sits at a price target of $274.

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