Stock Traders Buy High Volume of Call Options on Rivian Automotive (NASDAQ:RIVN)

Rivian Automotive, Inc. (NASDAQ:RIVN) was the target of some unusual options trading activity on Monday. Investors bought 221,887 call options on the company. This is an increase of 67% compared to the typical daily volume of 132,587 call options.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on the stock. Morgan Stanley cut their target price on shares of Rivian Automotive from $13.00 to $12.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, August 13th. UBS Group dropped their price objective on shares of Rivian Automotive from $13.00 to $12.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, August 6th. Wedbush dropped their price objective on shares of Rivian Automotive from $18.00 to $16.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, August 6th. Stifel Nicolaus dropped their price objective on shares of Rivian Automotive from $18.00 to $16.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, August 8th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price objective on shares of Rivian Automotive from $10.00 to $9.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, August 6th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, sixteen have issued a Hold rating and three have issued a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $13.72.

Rivian Automotive Price Performance

NASDAQ:RIVN opened at $15.53 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $18.84 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -4.81 and a beta of 1.81. The company has a current ratio of 3.44, a quick ratio of 2.72 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.73. The company’s 50-day moving average is $13.28 and its two-hundred day moving average is $13.17. Rivian Automotive has a 12-month low of $9.50 and a 12-month high of $17.15.

Rivian Automotive (NASDAQ:RIVN) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, August 5th. The electric vehicle automaker reported ($0.97) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.65) by ($0.32). The firm had revenue of $1.30 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.27 billion. Rivian Automotive had a negative net margin of 68.06% and a negative return on equity of 58.07%. Rivian Automotive’s revenue for the quarter was up 12.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company posted ($1.46) earnings per share. Research analysts expect that Rivian Automotive will post -3.2 EPS for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CFO Claire Mcdonough sold 7,247 shares of Rivian Automotive stock in a transaction on Monday, August 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $12.28, for a total value of $88,993.16. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 789,445 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $9,694,384.60. The trade was a 0.91% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Robert J. Scaringe sold 17,450 shares of Rivian Automotive stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $14.00, for a total transaction of $244,300.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 1,316,205 shares in the company, valued at $18,426,870. The trade was a 1.31% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 42,147 shares of company stock worth $577,593 over the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 2.16% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Teacher Retirement System of Texas purchased a new position in Rivian Automotive in the 1st quarter valued at about $1,382,000. Caisse Des Depots ET Consignations purchased a new position in Rivian Automotive in the 1st quarter valued at about $2,807,000. Ethos Financial Group LLC acquired a new position in shares of Rivian Automotive during the 1st quarter valued at about $311,000. Intech Investment Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Rivian Automotive by 522.0% during the 1st quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC now owns 350,965 shares of the electric vehicle automaker’s stock valued at $4,370,000 after acquiring an additional 294,539 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Mmbg Investment Advisors CO. acquired a new position in shares of Rivian Automotive during the 1st quarter valued at about $274,000. 66.25% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Rivian Automotive Company Profile

Rivian Automotive, Inc, together with its subsidiaries, designs, develops, manufactures, and sells electric vehicles and accessories. The company offers consumer vehicles, including a two-row, five-passenger pickup truck under the R1T brand, a three-row, seven-passenger sport utility vehicle under the R1S name.