Investors with a lot of money to spend have taken a bullish stance on Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW).

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 PANW, 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 38 uncommon options trades for Palo Alto Networks.

This isn't normal.

The overall sentiment of these big-money traders is split between 55% bullish and 31%, bearish.

Out of all of the special options we uncovered, 8 are puts, for a total amount of $251,603, and 30 are calls, for a total amount of $2,537,870.

Expected Price Movements

After evaluating the trading volumes and Open Interest, it's evident that the major market movers are focusing on a price band between $160.0 and $400.0 for Palo Alto Networks, spanning the last three months.

Volume & Open Interest Development

Examining the volume and open interest provides crucial insights into stock research. This information is key in gauging liquidity and interest levels for Palo Alto Networks's options at certain strike prices. Below, we present a snapshot of the trends in volume and open interest for calls and puts across Palo Alto Networks's significant trades, within a strike price range of $160.0 to $400.0, over the past month.

Palo Alto Networks Option Activity Analysis: Last 30 Days

Biggest Options Spotted:

About Palo Alto Networks

Palo Alto Networks is a platform-based cybersecurity vendor with product offerings covering network security, cloud security, and security operations. The California-based firm has more than 85,000 customers across the world, including more than three fourths of the Global 2000.

Present Market Standing of Palo Alto Networks

• Trading volume stands at 1,834,689, with PANW's price down by -0.12%, positioned at $294.98.
• RSI indicators show the stock to be may be approaching overbought.
• Earnings announcement expected in 17 days.

Expert Opinions on Palo Alto Networks

A total of 3 professional analysts have given their take on this stock in the last 30 days, setting an average price target of $345.0.

• An analyst from Oppenheimer persists with their Outperform rating on Palo Alto Networks, maintaining a target price of $330.
• Consistent in their evaluation, an analyst from Keybanc keeps a Overweight rating on Palo Alto Networks with a target price of $355.
• An analyst from Cantor Fitzgerald downgraded its action to Overweight with a price target of $350.

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.