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

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 IBM ( IBM ), 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 22 uncommon options trades for IBM ( IBM ).

This isn't normal.

The overall sentiment of these big-money traders is split between 50% bullish and 36%, bearish.

Out of all of the special options we uncovered, 13 are puts, for a total amount of $760,681, and 9 are calls, for a total amount of $491,849.

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 $160.0 to $390.0 for IBM ( IBM ) over the last 3 months.

Analyzing Volume & Open Interest

Examining the volume and open interest provides crucial insights into stock research. This information is key in gauging liquidity and interest levels for IBM's ( IBM ) options at certain strike prices. Below, we present a snapshot of the trends in volume and open interest for calls and puts across IBM's ( IBM ) significant trades, within a strike price range of $160.0 to $390.0, over the past month.

IBM Option Activity Analysis: Last 30 Days

Noteworthy Options Activity:

About IBM

IBM ( IBM ) looks to be a part of every aspect of an enterprise's IT needs. The company primarily sells software, IT services, consulting, and hardware. IBM ( IBM ) operates in 175 countries and employs approximately 300,000 people. The company has a robust roster of business partners to service its clients, which include 95% of all Fortune 500 companies. Primary products include its mainframes, Red Hat software, transaction processing software, and IT consulting.

In light of the recent options history for IBM ( IBM ), it's now appropriate to focus on the company itself. We aim to explore its current performance.

IBM's Current Market Status

Trading volume stands at 2,211,049, with IBM's ( IBM ) price down by -1.8%, positioned at $248.68.

RSI indicators show the stock to be is currently neutral between overbought and oversold.

Earnings announcement expected in 54 days.

Professional Analyst Ratings for IBM

5 market experts have recently issued ratings for this stock, with a consensus target price of $272.8.

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* An analyst from Morgan Stanley has decided to maintain their Equal-Weight rating on IBM ( IBM ), which currently sits at a price target of $228.

* Maintaining their stance, an analyst from Jefferies continues to hold a Hold rating for IBM ( IBM ), targeting a price of $270.

* Maintaining their stance, an analyst from RBC Capital continues to hold a Outperform rating for IBM ( IBM ), targeting a price of $276.

* An analyst from Oppenheimer has revised its rating downward to Outperform, adjusting the price target to $320.

* An analyst from B of A Securities has decided to maintain their Buy rating on IBM ( IBM ), which currently sits at a price target of $270.

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 IBM ( IBM ), Benzinga Pro gives you real-time options trades alerts.