Northrop Grumman's Options Frenzy: What You Need to Know

Investors with a lot of money to spend have taken a bullish stance on Northrop Grumman NOC.

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 NOC, 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 14 uncommon options trades for Northrop Grumman.

This isn't normal.

The overall sentiment of these big-money traders is split between 64% bullish and 35%, bearish.

Out of all of the special options we uncovered, 2 are puts, for a total amount of $58,340, and 12 are calls, for a total amount of $848,507.

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 $430.0 to $515.0 for Northrop Grumman over the last 3 months.

Insights into Volume & Open Interest

Looking at the volume and open interest is a powerful move while trading options. This data can help you track the liquidity and interest for Northrop Grumman'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 Northrop Grumman's whale trades within a strike price range from $430.0 to $515.0 in the last 30 days.

Northrop Grumman Option Volume And Open Interest Over Last 30 Days

Biggest Options Spotted:

About Northrop Grumman

Northrop Grumman is a diversified defense contractor providing aeronautics, defense, and space systems. The company's aerospace segment creates the fuselage for the massive F-35 program and produces autonomous and piloted aircraft such as Global Hawk drones and the new B-21 bomber. Defense systems makes artillery and missile ammunition and guidance systems, missile defense systems, and conducts maintenance and upgrades on numerous military aircraft. Mission systems creates and integrates a variety of radar, navigation, and communication systems for avionics, weapons control, and countermeasures on a range of platforms from helicopters to destroyers. Finally, space systems produces satellites, sensors, space structures, and manufactures long-range missiles and rocket motors.

Following our analysis of the options activities associated with Northrop Grumman, we pivot to a closer look at the company's own performance.

Present Market Standing of Northrop Grumman

• Currently trading with a volume of 682,027, the NOC's price is up by 1.34%, now at $444.2.
• RSI readings suggest the stock is currently may be approaching oversold.
• Anticipated earnings release is in 86 days.

Expert Opinions on Northrop Grumman

In the last month, 4 experts released ratings on this stock with an average target price of $492.5.

• An analyst from Baird has revised its rating downward to Neutral, adjusting the price target to $505.
• An analyst from RBC Capital has revised its rating downward to Sector Perform, adjusting the price target to $450.
• An analyst from Susquehanna persists with their Positive rating on Northrop Grumman, maintaining a target price of $540.
• An analyst from Baird has decided to maintain their Neutral rating on Northrop Grumman, which currently sits at a price target of $475.

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