Nikola Sees Unusually Large Options Volume (NASDAQ:NKLA)

Nikola Co. (NASDAQ:NKLA) was the recipient of some unusual options trading activity on Tuesday. Traders purchased 93,900 put options on the stock. This represents an increase of approximately 64% compared to the typical daily volume of 57,428 put options.

Institutional Trading of Nikola

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Van ECK Associates Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Nikola by 121.0% during the 4th quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 750,749 shares of the company’s stock worth $893,000 after acquiring an additional 410,974 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Nikola by 113.3% during the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 478,171 shares of the company’s stock worth $569,000 after buying an additional 254,044 shares during the last quarter. Tidal Investments LLC boosted its holdings 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 acquiring an additional 92,612 shares during the last quarter. Quadrature Capital Ltd purchased a new stake in Nikola during the third quarter valued at about $336,000. Finally, XTX Topco Ltd purchased a new stake in shares of Nikola during the 3rd quarter worth about $326,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 37.38% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

NKLA has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Robert W. Baird reduced their price target on shares of Nikola from $14.00 to $10.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Bryan, Garnier & Co lowered shares of Nikola from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, November 7th. DA Davidson cut their price target 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, TD Cowen lowered their price target on Nikola from $10.00 to $4.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Friday, November 1st. Four 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 target price of $12.00.

Nikola Price Performance

Nikola stock traded up $0.09 during trading hours on Tuesday, hitting $0.59. The stock had a trading volume of 25,429,524 shares, compared to its average volume of 19,351,332. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.71, a current ratio of 1.17 and a quick ratio of 0.94. The stock has a market capitalization of $36.03 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -0.04 and a beta of 1.97. Nikola has a 1-year low of $0.43 and a 1-year high of $34.50. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $1.17 and its two-hundred day moving average is $3.72.

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.