Unpacking the Latest Options Trading Trends in Carnival

Deep-pocketed investors have adopted a bearish approach towards Carnival CCL, and it's something market players shouldn't ignore. Our tracking of public options records at Benzinga unveiled this significant move today. The identity of these investors remains unknown, but such a substantial move in CCL usually suggests something big is about to happen.

We gleaned this information from our observations today when Benzinga's options scanner highlighted 28 extraordinary options activities for Carnival. This level of activity is out of the ordinary.

The general mood among these heavyweight investors is divided, with 25% leaning bullish and 75% bearish. Among these notable options, 26 are puts, totaling $2,295,777, and 2 are calls, amounting to $131,650.

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Projected Price Targets

After evaluating the trading volumes and Open Interest, it's evident that the major market movers are focusing on a price band between $10.0 and $20.0 for Carnival, spanning the last three months.

Volume & Open Interest Development

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 Carnival'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 Carnival's whale trades within a strike price range from $10.0 to $20.0 in the last 30 days.

Carnival 30-Day Option Volume & Interest Snapshot

Significant Options Trades Detected:

About Carnival

Carnival is the largest global cruise company, with 90 ships in service at the end of fiscal 2022. Its portfolio of brands includes Carnival Cruise Lines, Holland America, Princess Cruises, and Seabourn in North America; P&O Cruises and Cunard Line in the United Kingdom; Aida in Germany; Costa Cruises in Southern Europe; and P&O Cruises in Australia. Carnival also owns Holland America Princess Alaska Tours in Alaska and the Canadian Yukon. Carnival's brands attracted about 13 million guests in 2019, prior to COVID-19, a level it should reach again in 2023.

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

Carnival's Current Market Status

• Trading volume stands at 6,642,076, with CCL's price up by 0.14%, positioned at $14.64.
• RSI indicators show the stock to be may be overbought.
• Earnings announcement expected in 22 days.

Professional Analyst Ratings for Carnival

3 market experts have recently issued ratings for this stock, with a consensus target price of $17.333333333333332.

• Reflecting concerns, an analyst from Citigroup lowers its rating to Buy with a new price target of $18.
• Consistent in their evaluation, an analyst from Truist Securities keeps a Hold rating on Carnival with a target price of $15.
• Showing optimism, an analyst from Melius Research upgrades its rating to Buy with a revised price target of $19.

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