Nikola Target of Unusually High Options Trading (NASDAQ:NKLA)

Nikola Co. (NASDAQ:NKLA) was the target of some unusual options trading activity on Thursday. Stock traders bought 28,042 put options on the stock. This is an increase of approximately 30% compared to the average daily volume of 21,644 put options.

Insider Buying and Selling at Nikola

In other Nikola news, CEO Stephen J. Girsky sold 4,636 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $7.75, for a total transaction of $35,929.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 238,311 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,846,910.25. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Insiders own 0.74% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Nikola

Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of NKLA. Van ECK Associates Corp increased its holdings in Nikola by 65.4% during the first quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 10,695,472 shares of the company’s stock valued at $11,123,000 after buying an additional 4,229,114 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in Nikola by 4.0% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 80,262,859 shares of the company’s stock valued at $83,473,000 after buying an additional 3,117,074 shares during the period. SG Americas Securities LLC increased its holdings in Nikola by 90.3% during the first quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 3,812,396 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,965,000 after buying an additional 1,809,074 shares during the period. Virtu Financial LLC purchased a new position in Nikola during the first quarter valued at approximately $1,161,000. Finally, Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. increased its holdings in Nikola by 10.9% during the first quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 4,646,363 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,832,000 after buying an additional 454,804 shares during the period. 37.38% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Nikola Trading Down 6.9 %

Shares of NASDAQ:NKLA traded down $0.29 during trading on Thursday, reaching $3.94. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 4,520,900 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,328,531. The company has a current ratio of 1.53, a quick ratio of 1.31 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.51. The stock has a market capitalization of $199.35 million, a PE ratio of -0.15 and a beta of 2.06. Nikola has a 12 month low of $3.72 and a 12 month high of $38.40. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $5.12 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $10.23.

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

Analyst Ratings Changes

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

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.