Stock Traders Buy Large Volume of Call Options on Nikola (NASDAQ:NKLA)

Nikola Co. (NASDAQ:NKLA) was the recipient of some unusual options trading activity on Monday. Stock traders purchased 125,047 call options on the company. This is an increase of approximately 164% compared to the typical daily volume of 47,381 call options.

Institutional Trading of Nikola

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of NKLA. Cubist Systematic Strategies LLC purchased a new stake in Nikola in the 2nd quarter valued at about $2,214,000. SG Americas Securities LLC raised its holdings in Nikola by 137.9% in the 3rd quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 264,773 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,213,000 after buying an additional 153,494 shares during the period. Nantahala Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in Nikola in the 2nd quarter valued at about $819,000. Tidal Investments LLC raised its holdings in Nikola by 193.3% in the 3rd quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 140,523 shares of the company’s stock valued at $644,000 after buying an additional 92,612 shares during the period. Finally, Quadrature Capital Ltd purchased a new stake in Nikola in the 3rd quarter valued at about $336,000. 37.38% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on the stock. Bryan, Garnier & Co cut shares of Nikola from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 7th. Robert W. Baird lowered their target price on shares of Nikola from $14.00 to $10.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, November 1st. TD Cowen lowered their target price on shares of Nikola from $10.00 to $4.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Finally, DA Davidson lowered their target price on shares of Nikola from $12.00 to $4.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, November 11th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $12.00.

Nikola Trading Down 5.1 %

Shares of NKLA stock traded down $0.06 on Monday, hitting $1.12. 8,597,878 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 20,592,969. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $1.82 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $4.94. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.71, a quick ratio of 0.94 and a current ratio of 1.17. The stock has a market capitalization of $68.17 million, a PE ratio of -0.08 and a beta of 1.99. Nikola has a twelve month low of $1.07 and a twelve month high of $34.50.

Nikola (NASDAQ:NKLA) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The company reported ($2.75) earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($2.24) by ($0.51). The firm had revenue of $25.20 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $37.23 million. Nikola had a negative net margin of 840.44% and a negative return on equity of 95.73%. Nikola’s revenue for the quarter was up 1382.4% on a year-over-year basis.

Nikola Company Profile

Nikola Corporation operates as a technology innovator and integrator that develops energy and transportation solutions in the United States and internationally. The company operates in truck and energy units. It commercializes battery electric vehicles (BEV) and hydrogen fuel cell electric vehicles (FCEV) to the trucking sector.