Nikola Sees Unusually High Options Volume (NASDAQ:NKLA)

Nikola Co. (NASDAQ:NKLA) was the recipient of unusually large options trading on Tuesday. Traders purchased 45,057 call options on the stock. This is an increase of approximately 90% compared to the typical daily volume of 23,667 call options.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages recently commented on NKLA. Robert W. Baird lowered their price objective on Nikola from $14.00 to $10.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, November 1st. DA Davidson lowered their price target on shares of Nikola from $12.00 to $4.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, November 11th. TD Cowen cut their price objective on shares of Nikola from $10.00 to $4.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, November 1st. Finally, Bryan, Garnier & Co lowered shares of Nikola from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, November 7th. Four 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, Nikola has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $12.00.

Nikola Trading Down 7.1 %

Shares of NKLA stock traded down $0.15 on Tuesday, reaching $1.95. The company had a trading volume of 7,141,660 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,613,803. The company has a 50-day moving average of $3.90 and a 200-day moving average of $8.13. Nikola has a 12 month low of $1.83 and a 12 month high of $34.50. The stock has a market cap of $118.70 million, a PE ratio of -0.14 and a beta of 2.07. The company has a current ratio of 1.17, a quick ratio of 0.94 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.71.

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

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Nikola

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in Nikola by 4.0% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 80,262,859 shares of the company’s stock worth $83,473,000 after acquiring an additional 3,117,074 shares during the last quarter. Virtu Financial LLC acquired a new position in Nikola during the first quarter worth $1,161,000. California State Teachers Retirement System grew its position in Nikola by 3.1% in the first quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System now owns 1,063,199 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,106,000 after purchasing an additional 32,266 shares in the last quarter. Tidal Investments LLC increased its stake in Nikola by 32.4% in the 1st quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 744,821 shares of the company’s stock valued at $775,000 after buying an additional 182,132 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in Nikola by 11.5% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 524,731 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,404,000 after buying an additional 53,966 shares in the last quarter. 37.38% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.