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

Nikola Co. (NASDAQ:NKLA) saw unusually large options trading activity on Wednesday. Investors purchased 52,138 call options on the company. This represents an increase of 132% compared to the average volume of 22,498 call options.

Insider Transactions at Nikola

In other news, CEO Stephen J. Girsky sold 4,636 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $7.75, for a total transaction of $35,929.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 238,311 shares in the company, valued at $1,846,910.25. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 0.74% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Nikola

Large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Capstone Investment Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Nikola by 368.1% in the fourth quarter. Capstone Investment Advisors LLC now owns 241,294 shares of the company’s stock valued at $211,000 after buying an additional 189,751 shares in the last quarter. Cantor Fitzgerald L. P. raised its holdings in shares of Nikola by 817.5% during the fourth quarter. Cantor Fitzgerald L. P. now owns 93,244 shares of the company’s stock worth $82,000 after acquiring an additional 83,081 shares during the period. Cubist Systematic Strategies LLC bought a new stake in Nikola in the 2nd quarter valued at $2,214,000. Nantahala Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in Nikola in the 2nd quarter worth $819,000. Finally, Krane Funds Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Nikola by 7.4% in the 4th quarter. Krane Funds Advisors LLC now owns 419,671 shares of the company’s stock worth $367,000 after purchasing an additional 29,016 shares during the period. 37.38% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Nikola Stock Down 6.5 %

Shares of NASDAQ:NKLA opened at $5.20 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.51, a quick ratio of 1.31 and a current ratio of 1.53. Nikola has a 52 week low of $4.10 and a 52 week high of $45.30. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $6.64 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $13.18. The company has a market capitalization of $234.90 million, a PE ratio of -0.17 and a beta of 2.06.

Nikola (NASDAQ:NKLA) last posted its earnings results on Friday, August 9th. The company reported ($2.67) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($2.78) by $0.11. The business had revenue of $31.10 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $26.19 million. The firm’s revenue was up 101.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted ($7.21) earnings per share.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Separately, DA Davidson reduced their target price on shares of Nikola from $12.00 to $10.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, August 12th.

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.