Spotlight on Estee Lauder Cos: Analyzing the Surge in Options Activity

Investors with a lot of money to spend have taken a bearish stance on Estee Lauder Cos EL.

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 EL, 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 17 uncommon options trades for Estee Lauder Cos.

This isn't normal.

The overall sentiment of these big-money traders is split between 41% bullish and 58%, bearish.

Out of all of the special options we uncovered, 7 are puts, for a total amount of $420,130, and 10 are calls, for a total amount of $519,138.

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Expected Price Movements

Taking into account the Volume and Open Interest on these contracts, it appears that whales have been targeting a price range from $125.0 to $155.0 for Estee Lauder Cos over the last 3 months.

Analyzing Volume & Open Interest

Examining the volume and open interest provides crucial insights into stock research. This information is key in gauging liquidity and interest levels for Estee Lauder Cos's options at certain strike prices. Below, we present a snapshot of the trends in volume and open interest for calls and puts across Estee Lauder Cos's significant trades, within a strike price range of $125.0 to $155.0, over the past month.

Estee Lauder Cos 30-Day Option Volume & Interest Snapshot

Noteworthy Options Activity:

About Estee Lauder Cos

Estee Lauder is a leader in the global prestige beauty market, participating across skin care (56% of 2022 sales), makeup (26%), fragrance (14%), and hair care (4%) categories, with top-selling brands such as Estee Lauder, Clinique, M.A.C, La Mer, Jo Malone London, Aveda, Bobbi Brown, and Origins. The firm operates in more than 150 countries, generating 26% of revenue from the Americas, 43% from Europe, the Middle East and Africa (including travel retail), and 31% from Asia Pacific. Estee Lauder sells its products through department stores, travel retail, specialty multibrand beauty stores, brand-dedicated freestanding stores, e-commerce, salons/spas, and perfumeries.

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

Where Is Estee Lauder Cos Standing Right Now?

• With a trading volume of 3,694,569, the price of EL is down by -0.09%, reaching $150.14.
• Current RSI values indicate that the stock is may be approaching overbought.
• Next earnings report is scheduled for 85 days from now.

Professional Analyst Ratings for Estee Lauder Cos

A total of 5 professional analysts have given their take on this stock in the last 30 days, setting an average price target of $149.8.

• Consistent in their evaluation, an analyst from RBC Capital keeps a Sector Perform rating on Estee Lauder Cos with a target price of $131.
• Consistent in their evaluation, an analyst from JP Morgan keeps a Overweight rating on Estee Lauder Cos with a target price of $167.
• Consistent in their evaluation, an analyst from Wells Fargo keeps a Overweight rating on Estee Lauder Cos with a target price of $175.
• Consistent in their evaluation, an analyst from Barclays keeps a Equal-Weight rating on Estee Lauder Cos with a target price of $121.
• Consistent in their evaluation, an analyst from Telsey Advisory Group keeps a Market Perform rating on Estee Lauder Cos with a target price of $155.

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 Estee Lauder Cos, Benzinga Pro gives you real-time options trades alerts.