Behind the Scenes of Costco Wholesale's Latest Options Trends

Investors with a lot of money to spend have taken a bearish stance on Costco Wholesale COST.

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 COST, 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 21 uncommon options trades for Costco Wholesale.

This isn't normal.

The overall sentiment of these big-money traders is split between 42% bullish and 57%, bearish.

Out of all of the special options we uncovered, 7 are puts, for a total amount of $274,282, and 14 are calls, for a total amount of $824,103.

Projected Price Targets

Analyzing the Volume and Open Interest in these contracts, it seems that the big players have been eyeing a price window from $360.0 to $1140.0 for Costco Wholesale during the past quarter.

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 Costco Wholesale'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 Costco Wholesale's whale activity within a strike price range from $360.0 to $1140.0 in the last 30 days.

Costco Wholesale Option Volume And Open Interest Over Last 30 Days

Significant Options Trades Detected:

About Costco Wholesale

Costco operates a membership-based, no-frills retail model, predicated on offering a select product assortment in bulk quantities at bargain prices. The firm avoids maintaining costly product displays by keeping inventory on pallets and limits distribution expenses by storing its inventory at point of sale in the warehouse. Given Costco's frugal cost structure, the firm is able to price its merchandise below competing retailers, driving high sales volume per warehouse and allowing the retailer to generate strong profits on thin margins. Costco operates over 600 warehouses in the United States and boasts over 60% market share in the domestic warehouse club industry. Internationally, Costco operates another 270 warehouses, primarily in markets such as Canada, Mexico, Japan, and the UK.

Costco Wholesale's Current Market Status

• With a volume of 788,344, the price of COST is up 1.41% at $714.82.
• RSI indicators hint that the underlying stock is currently neutral between overbought and oversold.
• Next earnings are expected to be released in 48 days.

Professional Analyst Ratings for Costco Wholesale

A total of 5 professional analysts have given their take on this stock in the last 30 days, setting an average price target of $788.0.

• An analyst from Stifel persists with their Buy rating on Costco Wholesale, maintaining a target price of $800.
• An analyst from Telsey Advisory Group has decided to maintain their Outperform rating on Costco Wholesale, which currently sits at a price target of $800.
• Consistent in their evaluation, an analyst from Wells Fargo keeps a Equal-Weight rating on Costco Wholesale with a target price of $750.
• Consistent in their evaluation, an analyst from Evercore ISI Group keeps a Outperform rating on Costco Wholesale with a target price of $815.
• An analyst from Gordon Haskett has revised its rating downward to Accumulate, adjusting the price target to $775.

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