Investors Purchase High Volume of Call Options on Li Auto (NASDAQ:LI)

Li Auto Inc. (NASDAQ:LI) was the target of some unusual options trading on Tuesday. Stock traders acquired 22,577 call options on the company. This represents an increase of approximately 41% compared to the average daily volume of 16,038 call options.

Institutional Trading of Li Auto

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in LI. Renaissance Technologies LLC increased its stake in Li Auto by 1.3% in the fourth quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 7,800,639 shares of the company’s stock valued at $187,137,000 after purchasing an additional 99,539 shares during the period. Brilliance Asset Management Ltd. boosted its holdings in Li Auto by 0.7% during the fourth quarter. Brilliance Asset Management Ltd. now owns 3,508,642 shares of the company’s stock worth $84,172,000 after buying an additional 24,416 shares in the last quarter. RWC Asset Advisors US LLC boosted its stake in shares of Li Auto by 20.0% during the 4th quarter. RWC Asset Advisors US LLC now owns 3,181,050 shares of the company’s stock worth $76,313,000 after acquiring an additional 530,390 shares in the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. boosted its position in Li Auto by 14.9% during the fourth quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 1,005,524 shares of the company’s stock worth $24,123,000 after purchasing an additional 130,598 shares in the last quarter. Finally, LMR Partners LLP acquired a new stake in Li Auto in the 4th quarter valued at about $16,266,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 9.88% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have recently commented on LI. Macquarie cut Li Auto from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $27.00 target price on the stock. in a research report on Monday, March 17th. Nomura Securities upgraded shares of Li Auto to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, March 17th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded Li Auto from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $22.00 to $40.00 in a research report on Friday, February 28th. Cfra Research upgraded shares of Li Auto to a “strong sell” rating in a report on Friday, March 21st. Finally, HSBC set a $38.50 price target on Li Auto and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, March 6th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Li Auto presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $35.73.

Li Auto Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ LI opened at $21.14 on Thursday. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $26.21 and its 200-day simple moving average is $25.02. The firm has a market capitalization of $22.14 billion, a PE ratio of 15.66, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.27 and a beta of 0.94. Li Auto has a fifty-two week low of $17.44 and a fifty-two week high of $33.12. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13, a quick ratio of 1.64 and a current ratio of 1.76.

About Li Auto

Li Auto Inc operates in the energy vehicle market in the People's Republic of China. It designs, develops, manufactures, and sells premium smart electric vehicles. The company's product line comprises MPVs and sport utility vehicles. It offers sales and after sales management, and technology development and corporate management services, as well as purchases manufacturing equipment.