Financial giants have made a conspicuous bearish move on Microsoft. Our analysis of options history for Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) revealed 11 unusual trades.
Delving into the details, we found 9% of traders were bullish, while 45% showed bearish tendencies. Out of all the trades we spotted, 4 were puts, with a value of $189,735, and 7 were calls, valued at $742,131.
Projected Price Targets
Taking into account the Volume and Open Interest on these contracts, it appears that whales have been targeting a price range from $365.0 to $490.0 for Microsoft over the last 3 months.
Volume & Open Interest Development
In terms of liquidity and interest, the mean open interest for Microsoft options trades today is 5657.8 with a total volume of 1,272.00.
In the following chart, we are able to follow the development of volume and open interest of call and put options for Microsoft's big money trades within a strike price range of $365.0 to $490.0 over the last 30 days.
Microsoft Call and Put Volume: 30-Day Overview
Noteworthy Options Activity:
| Symbol | PUT/CALL | Trade Type | Sentiment | Exp. Date | Ask | Bid | Price | Strike Price | Total Trade Price | Open Interest | Volume |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| MSFT | CALL | TRADE | NEUTRAL | 09/20/24 | $46.1 | $44.75 | $45.53 | $420.00 | $455.3K | 3.4K | 1 |
| MSFT | CALL | SWEEP | BEARISH | 07/12/24 | $3.65 | $3.55 | $3.6 | $460.00 | $73.5K | 1.7K | 1.0K |
| MSFT | PUT | TRADE | BEARISH | 08/16/24 | $11.65 | $11.55 | $11.65 | $450.00 | $69.9K | 3.3K | 0 |
| MSFT | CALL | TRADE | BULLISH | 08/16/24 | $4.65 | $4.55 | $4.65 | $490.00 | $59.0K | 1.9K | 5 |
| MSFT | PUT | TRADE | NEUTRAL | 12/18/26 | $24.5 | $21.5 | $23.0 | $365.00 | $57.5K | 252 | 0 |
About Microsoft
Microsoft develops and licenses consumer and enterprise software. It is known for its Windows operating systems and Office productivity suite. The company is organized into three equally sized broad segments: productivity and business processes (legacy Microsoft Office, cloud-based Office 365, Exchange, SharePoint, Skype, LinkedIn, Dynamics), intelligence cloud (infrastructure- and platform-as-a-service offerings Azure, Windows Server OS, SQL Server), and more personal computing (Windows Client, Xbox, Bing search, display advertising, and Surface laptops, tablets, and desktops).
Microsoft's Current Market Status
- Trading volume stands at 1,474,915, with MSFT's price down by -0.22%, positioned at $455.74.
- RSI indicators show the stock to be may be overbought.
- Earnings announcement expected in 21 days.
What Analysts Are Saying About Microsoft
A total of 5 professional analysts have given their take on this stock in the last 30 days, setting an average price target of $548.0.
- Maintaining their stance, an analyst from Oppenheimer continues to hold a Outperform rating for Microsoft, targeting a price of $500.
- An analyst from New Street Research downgraded its action to Buy with a price target of $570.
- Consistent in their evaluation, an analyst from Citigroup keeps a Buy rating on Microsoft with a target price of $520.
- Maintaining their stance, an analyst from Truist Securities continues to hold a Buy rating for Microsoft, targeting a price of $600.
- An analyst from Tigress Financial persists with their Buy rating on Microsoft, maintaining a target price of $550.
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.