A look at Johnson & Johnson's recent whale swaps

Someone with a lot of money to burn took a bearish stance on Johnson & Johnson JNJ.

And retailers should know.

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

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

So how do we know what this whale just did?

Benzinga's options scanner today spotted 22 unusual options trades for Johnson & Johnson.

This is not normal.

The general sentiment of these big traders is split between 36% bullish and 63% bearish.

Of all the special options we discovered, 8 are puts, totaling $402,474, and 14 are calls, totaling $982,422 .

What is the target price?

Given the volume and open interest on these contracts, it appears that whales have targeted a price range of $80.0 to $180.0 for Johnson & Johnson at past 3 months.

Development of volume and open interest

Reviewing volume and open interest is an insightful way to perform due diligence on a stock.

This data can help you track the liquidity and interest of Johnson & Johnson options for a given strike price.

Below we can see the trend in call and put volume and open interest, respectively, for Johnson & Johnson's overall whale business. Johnson in a strike price range of $80.0 to $180.0 in the last 30 days.

Johnson & Johnson Options Volume and Open Interest in the Last 30 Days The biggest options spotted:

Symbol PUT/CALL Kind of trade Feeling Exp. Date Strike price Total trade price open interest Volume JNJ CALL TRADE BULLISH 10/21/22 $160.00 $170,800 1.1K 400 JNJ PUT SWEEP BEARISH 10/21/22 $160.00 $105,200 6.6K 756 JNJ CALL SWEEP BULLISH 10/21/22 $165.00 $100.4000 6.5K 931 JNJ CALL SWEEP BEARISH 01/20/23 $140.00 $100.2000 263 39 JNJ CALL TRADE BULLISH 10/21/22 $165.00 $97.5,000 6.5K 427

Where does Johnson & Johnson stand right now? With a volume of 5,402,999, the price of JNJ is up 2.2% to $166.87. RSI indicators suggest that the underlying stock is currently neutral between overbought and oversold. The next results should be published in 26 days. What Experts Say About Johnson & Johnson: Morgan Stanley has decided to maintain its Equal-Weight rating on Johnson & Johnson, which currently sits at a price target of $173.

Options are a riskier asset than just trading stocks, but they have a higher profit potential. Serious options traders manage this risk by educating themselves daily, increasing and decreasing trades, following more than one indicator, and following the markets closely.

If you want to stay informed about the latest options trades for Johnson & Johnson, Benzinga Pro gives you real-time options trade alerts.

© 2022 Benzinga.com. Benzinga does not provide investment advice. All rights reserved.