Investors Purchase Large Volume of Call Options on Nikola (NASDAQ:NKLA)

Nikola Co. (NASDAQ:NKLA) was the recipient of some unusual options trading on Friday. Stock traders acquired 75,258 call options on the stock. This is an increase of approximately 88% compared to the typical daily volume of 40,111 call options.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Nikola

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of NKLA. Tidal Investments LLC boosted its position in Nikola by 193.3% during the third quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 140,523 shares of the company’s stock valued at $644,000 after purchasing an additional 92,612 shares in the last quarter. Barclays PLC lifted its position in shares of Nikola by 121.1% during the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 9,475 shares of the company’s stock valued at $43,000 after buying an additional 5,190 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of Nikola by 11.5% in 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 during the last quarter. XTX Topco Ltd bought a new position in shares of Nikola during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $326,000. Finally, Quadrature Capital Ltd purchased a new stake in Nikola during the third quarter valued at approximately $336,000. Institutional investors own 37.38% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

NKLA has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Robert W. Baird lowered their price target 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 target price on shares of Nikola from $12.00 to $4.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Monday, November 11th. Bryan, Garnier & Co downgraded shares of Nikola from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, November 7th. Finally, TD Cowen reduced their price objective on shares of Nikola from $10.00 to $4.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $12.00.

Nikola Stock Up 0.9 %

NASDAQ:NKLA opened at $1.15 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $70.00 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -0.08 and a beta of 1.92. Nikola has a twelve month low of $1.08 and a twelve month high of $34.50. The company has a current ratio of 1.17, a quick ratio of 0.94 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.71. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $2.41 and a 200-day simple moving average of $5.79.

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

About Nikola

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.