Investors with a lot of money to spend have taken a bullish stance on Morgan Stanley ( MS ) .

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 MS, 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 30 uncommon options trades for Morgan Stanley ( MS ).

This isn't normal.

The overall sentiment of these big-money traders is split between 53% bullish and 40%, bearish.

Out of all of the special options we uncovered, 4 are puts, for a total amount of $502,580, and 26 are calls, for a total amount of $1,348,095.

Expected Price Movements

Taking into account the Volume and Open Interest on these contracts, it appears that whales have been targeting a price range from $97.5 to $200.0 for Morgan Stanley ( MS ) over the last 3 months.

Volume & Open Interest Development

In terms of liquidity and interest, the mean open interest for Morgan Stanley ( MS ) options trades today is 3122.64 with a total volume of 12,107.00.

In the following chart, we are able to follow the development of volume and open interest of call and put options for Morgan Stanley's ( MS ) big money trades within a strike price range of $97.5 to $200.0 over the last 30 days.

Morgan Stanley 30-Day Option Volume & Interest Snapshot

Noteworthy Options Activity:

About Morgan Stanley

Morgan Stanley ( MS ) is a global investment bank whose history, through its legacy firms, can be traced back to 1924. The company has institutional securities, wealth management, and investment management segments with approximately 45% of net revenue from its institutional securities business, 45% from wealth management, and 10% from investment management. About 30% of its total revenue is from outside the Americas. The company had over $5 trillion of client assets as well as around 80,000 employees at the end of 2023.

Present Market Standing of Morgan Stanley

Trading volume stands at 4,603,902, with MS's price down by -2.15%, positioned at $130.78.

RSI indicators show the stock to be may be approaching overbought.

Earnings announcement expected in 51 days.

Expert Opinions on Morgan Stanley

Over the past month, 3 industry analysts have shared their insights on this stock, proposing an average target price of $136.0.

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* In a cautious move, an analyst from HSBC downgraded its rating to Hold, setting a price target of $131.

* Maintaining their stance, an analyst from Citigroup continues to hold a Neutral rating for Morgan Stanley ( MS ), targeting a price of $135.

* An analyst from Wells Fargo upgraded its action to Equal-Weight with a price target of $142.

Options trading presents higher risks and potential rewards. Astute traders manage these risks by continually educating themselves, adapting their strategies, monitoring multiple indicators, and keeping a close eye on market movements. Stay informed about the latest Morgan Stanley ( MS ) options trades with real-time alerts from Benzinga Pro.