A Closer Look at Home Depot's Options Market Dynamics

Investors with a lot of money to spend have taken a bearish stance on Home Depot HD.

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 HD, 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 13 uncommon options trades for Home Depot.

This isn't normal.

The overall sentiment of these big-money traders is split between 46% bullish and 53%, bearish.

Out of all of the special options we uncovered, 4 are puts, for a total amount of $164,540, and 9 are calls, for a total amount of $339,045.

Projected Price Targets

Taking into account the Volume and Open Interest on these contracts, it appears that whales have been targeting a price range from $295.0 to $360.0 for Home Depot over the last 3 months.

Volume & Open Interest Development

Examining the volume and open interest provides crucial insights into stock research. This information is key in gauging liquidity and interest levels for Home Depot's options at certain strike prices. Below, we present a snapshot of the trends in volume and open interest for calls and puts across Home Depot's significant trades, within a strike price range of $295.0 to $360.0, over the past month.

Home Depot Call and Put Volume: 30-Day Overview

Largest Options Trades Observed:

About Home Depot

Home Depot is the world's largest home improvement specialty retailer, operating more than 2,300 warehouse-format stores offering more than 30,000 products in store and 1 million products online in the United States, Canada, and Mexico. Its stores offer numerous building materials, home improvement products, lawn and garden products, and decor products and provide various services, including home improvement installation services and tool and equipment rentals. The acquisition of distributor Interline Brands in 2015 allowed Home Depot to enter the maintenance, repair, and operations business, which has been expanded through the tie-up with HD Supply (2020). Moreover, the additions of the Company Store brought textile exposure to the lineup, while Redi Carpet added multifamily flooring.

Having examined the options trading patterns of Home Depot, our attention now turns directly to the company. This shift allows us to delve into its present market position and performance

Home Depot's Current Market Status

• Currently trading with a volume of 971,063, the HD's price is down by -0.51%, now at $346.16.
• RSI readings suggest the stock is currently may be approaching overbought.
• Anticipated earnings release is in 42 days.

What Analysts Are Saying About Home Depot

A total of 3 professional analysts have given their take on this stock in the last 30 days, setting an average price target of $371.3333333333333.

• An analyst from Barclays upgraded its action to Overweight with a price target of $372.
• Maintaining their stance, an analyst from Truist Securities continues to hold a Buy rating for Home Depot, targeting a price of $387.
• Consistent in their evaluation, an analyst from Stifel keeps a Hold rating on Home Depot with a target price of $355.

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