Investors Buy Large Volume of Call Options on QuantumScape (NYSE:QS)

QuantumScape Co. (NYSE:QS) was the target of unusually large options trading on Monday. Traders acquired 104,382 call options on the stock. This is an increase of approximately 210% compared to the typical daily volume of 33,628 call options.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CFO Kevin Hettrich sold 34,607 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, October 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $5.49, for a total value of $189,992.43. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 1,073,022 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,890,890.78. The trade was a 3.12 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Michael O. Mccarthy III sold 27,305 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, November 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $5.07, for a total transaction of $138,436.35. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 1,129,167 shares in the company, valued at $5,724,876.69. The trade was a 2.36 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 571,067 shares of company stock valued at $3,093,612. Insiders own 12.03% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of QuantumScape

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Sanctuary Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of QuantumScape by 28.2% in the third quarter. Sanctuary Advisors LLC now owns 161,781 shares of the company’s stock worth $930,000 after buying an additional 35,579 shares in the last quarter. Virtu Financial LLC purchased a new stake in shares of QuantumScape during the third quarter valued at $235,000. Barclays PLC lifted its stake in QuantumScape by 326.5% during the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 104,333 shares of the company’s stock valued at $599,000 after acquiring an additional 79,871 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of QuantumScape by 3.9% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 5,853,958 shares of the company’s stock valued at $33,671,000 after purchasing an additional 218,743 shares during the last quarter. Finally, M&T Bank Corp grew its position in QuantumScape by 139.2% in the 3rd quarter. M&T Bank Corp now owns 46,090 shares of the company’s stock worth $265,000 after purchasing an additional 26,820 shares during the period. 29.87% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

QS has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Hsbc Global Res raised QuantumScape to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 19th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft restated a “hold” rating and set a $6.00 price target on shares of QuantumScape in a research report on Tuesday, September 10th. HSBC upgraded QuantumScape from a “reduce” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $5.30 target price on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, November 19th. Finally, Truist Financial reissued a “hold” rating and issued a $7.00 target price (up previously from $6.00) on shares of QuantumScape in a research note on Friday, October 25th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and six have assigned a hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $6.26.

QuantumScape Price Performance

Shares of QuantumScape stock opened at $6.59 on Tuesday. The company has a quick ratio of 14.07, a current ratio of 14.07 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $5.18 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $5.67. The firm has a market cap of $3.38 billion, a PE ratio of -6.94 and a beta of 4.46. QuantumScape has a 12-month low of $4.65 and a 12-month high of $9.66.

QuantumScape (NYSE:QS) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 23rd. The company reported ($0.23) earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.21) by ($0.02). During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted ($0.23) earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts expect that QuantumScape will post -0.99 EPS for the current year.

QuantumScape Company Profile

QuantumScape Corporation, a research and development stage company, focuses on the development and commercialization of solid-state lithium-metal batteries for electric vehicles and other applications. The company was founded in 2010 and is headquartered in San Jose, California.