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

Nikola Co. (NASDAQ:NKLA) saw unusually large options trading on Monday. Stock traders bought 42,594 put options on the company. This is an increase of approximately 102% compared to the typical daily volume of 21,092 put options.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on the company. DA Davidson decreased their price target on Nikola from $12.00 to $4.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, November 11th. TD Cowen dropped their target price on shares of Nikola from $10.00 to $4.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Robert W. Baird reduced their price objective on shares of Nikola from $14.00 to $10.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Finally, Bryan, Garnier & Co lowered shares of Nikola from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 7th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $12.00.

Nikola Stock Performance

Shares of NKLA stock traded down $0.37 during trading on Monday, reaching $1.97. 11,493,516 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 3,517,098. Nikola has a 1 year low of $1.92 and a 1 year 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 company has a market capitalization of $119.91 million, a P/E ratio of -0.15 and a beta of 2.07. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $4.30 and its 200 day moving average is $8.82.

Nikola (NASDAQ:NKLA) last released its 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 net margin of 840.44% and a negative return on equity of 95.73%. The business had revenue of $25.20 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $37.23 million. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 1382.4% on a year-over-year basis.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Nikola

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in NKLA. Unique Wealth Strategies LLC purchased a new position in Nikola during the 2nd quarter valued at about $25,000. Summit Securities Group LLC bought a new stake in Nikola during the second quarter valued at approximately $56,000. Barclays PLC lifted its holdings in 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 purchasing an additional 5,190 shares in the last quarter. Sanctuary Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Nikola during the second quarter valued at approximately $138,000. Finally, One Wealth Management Investment & Advisory Services LLC purchased a new position in shares of Nikola in the third quarter worth $110,000. Institutional investors own 37.38% of the company’s stock.

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.