Morgan Stanley Options Trading: A Deep Dive into Market Sentiment

Investors with a lot of money to spend have taken a bullish stance on Morgan Stanley MS.

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 MS, 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 8 uncommon options trades for Morgan Stanley.

This isn't normal.

The overall sentiment of these big-money traders is split between 75% bullish and 25%, bearish.

Out of all of the special options we uncovered, 6 are puts, for a total amount of $320,952, and 2 are calls, for a total amount of $223,548.

Expected Price Movements

Analyzing the Volume and Open Interest in these contracts, it seems that the big players have been eyeing a price window from $80.0 to $90.0 for Morgan Stanley during the past quarter.

Analyzing Volume & Open Interest

In terms of liquidity and interest, the mean open interest for Morgan Stanley options trades today is 6256.5 with a total volume of 2,567.00.

In the following chart, we are able to follow the development of volume and open interest of call and put options for Morgan Stanley's big money trades within a strike price range of $80.0 to $90.0 over the last 30 days.

Morgan Stanley 30-Day Option Volume & Interest Snapshot

Significant Options Trades Detected:

About Morgan Stanley

Morgan Stanley is a global investment bank whose history, through its legacy firms, can be traced back to 1924. The company has institutional securities, wealth management, and investment management segments. The company had over $4 trillion of client assets as well as over 80,000 employees at the end of 2022. Approximately 50% of the company's net revenue is from its institutional securities business, with the remainder coming from wealth and investment management. The company derives about 30% of its total revenue outside the Americas.

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

Morgan Stanley's Current Market Status

• With a volume of 2,529,704, the price of MS is down -0.73% at $85.26.
• RSI indicators hint that the underlying stock may be approaching oversold.
• Next earnings are expected to be released in 71 days.

Expert Opinions on Morgan Stanley

In the last month, 5 experts released ratings on this stock with an average target price of $95.6.

• An analyst from JP Morgan has revised its rating downward to Neutral, adjusting the price target to $87.
• In a cautious move, an analyst from HSBC downgraded its rating to Hold, setting a price target of $96.
• In a cautious move, an analyst from Keefe, Bruyette & Woods downgraded its rating to Market Perform, setting a price target of $91.
• Maintaining their stance, an analyst from UBS continues to hold a Neutral rating for Morgan Stanley, targeting a price of $95.
• An analyst from Oppenheimer persists with their Outperform rating on Morgan Stanley, maintaining a target price of $109.

Options trading presents higher risks and potential rewards. Astute traders manage these risks by continually educating themselves, adapting their strategies, monitoring multiple indicators, and keeping a close eye on market movements. Stay informed about the latest Morgan Stanley options trades with real-time alerts from Benzinga Pro.