Looking At Eli Lilly's Recent Unusual Options Activity

Someone with a lot of money to spend has taken a bearish stance on Eli Lilly LLY.

And retail traders should know.

We noticed this today when the big position showed up on publicly available options history that we track here at Benzinga.

Whether this is an institution or just a wealthy individual, we don't know. But when something this big happens with LLY, it often means somebody knows something is about to happen.

So how do we know what this whale just did?

Today, Benzinga's options scanner spotted 16 uncommon options trades for Eli Lilly.

This isn't normal.

The overall sentiment of these big-money traders is split between 43% bullish and 56%, bearish.

Out of all of the special options we uncovered, 8 are puts, for a total amount of $478,841, and 8 are calls, for a total amount of $524,174.

What's The Price Target?

Taking into account the Volume and Open Interest on these contracts, it appears that whales have been targeting a price range from $195.0 to $420.0 for Eli Lilly over the last 3 months.

Volume & Open Interest Development

In terms of liquidity and interest, the mean open interest for Eli Lilly options trades today is 533.88 with a total volume of 2,313.00.

In the following chart, we are able to follow the development of volume and open interest of call and put options for Eli Lilly's big money trades within a strike price range of $195.0 to $420.0 over the last 30 days.

Eli Lilly Option Volume And Open Interest Over Last 30 Days

Biggest Options Spotted:

Where Is Eli Lilly Standing Right Now?

• With a volume of 536,326, the price of LLY is up 0.43% at $365.53.
• RSI indicators hint that the underlying stock may be approaching overbought.
• Next earnings are expected to be released in 64 days.

What The Experts Say On Eli Lilly:

• Berenberg has decided to maintain their Buy rating on Eli Lilly, which currently sits at a price target of $375.
• Goldman Sachs has decided to maintain their Neutral rating on Eli Lilly, which currently sits at a price target of $313.
• Barclays has decided to maintain their Overweight rating on Eli Lilly, which currently sits at a price target of $395.
• Wells Fargo has decided to maintain their Equal-Weight rating on Eli Lilly, which currently sits at a price target of $365.
• Morgan Stanley has decided to maintain their Overweight rating on Eli Lilly, which currently sits at a price target of $441.

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 Eli Lilly, Benzinga Pro gives you real-time options trades alerts.