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

Nikola Co. (NASDAQ:NKLA) was the target of unusually large options trading activity on Tuesday. Stock traders bought 45,057 call options on the company. This is an increase of approximately 90% compared to the typical volume of 23,667 call options.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

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

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Nikola

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of NKLA. Tidal Investments LLC raised its position in Nikola by 193.3% in 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 during the period. Barclays PLC increased its position in shares of Nikola by 121.1% during the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 9,475 shares of the company’s stock worth $43,000 after purchasing an additional 5,190 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in Nikola by 11.5% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 524,731 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,404,000 after buying an additional 53,966 shares during the period. XTX Topco Ltd acquired a new position in Nikola in the third quarter valued at about $326,000. Finally, Quadrature Capital Ltd purchased a new position in Nikola during the third quarter worth about $336,000. 37.38% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Nikola Stock Performance

Shares of Nikola stock opened at $1.96 on Thursday. 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 business’s 50 day moving average price is $3.84 and its 200 day moving average price is $8.03. The company has a market cap of $119.30 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -0.14 and a beta of 2.07. Nikola has a one year low of $1.83 and a one year high of $34.50.

Nikola (NASDAQ:NKLA) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The company reported ($2.75) 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 company had revenue of $25.20 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $37.23 million. The company’s revenue 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.