Investors Buy Large Volume of Call Options on Nikola (NASDAQ:NKLA)

Nikola Co. (NASDAQ:NKLA - Get Free Report) was the recipient of unusually large options trading on Friday. Investors acquired 123,045 call options on the company. This is an increase of approximately 118% compared to the average volume of 56,317 call options.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Nikola news, insider Joseph R. Pike sold 75,162 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $0.68, for a total value of $51,110.16. Following the sale, the insider now owns 429,790 shares of the company's stock, valued at $292,257.20. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 10.00% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Nikola

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Quantbot Technologies LP acquired a new position in shares of Nikola in the 1st quarter valued at about $29,000. Captrust Financial Advisors lifted its stake in shares of Nikola by 97.2% in the 1st quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors now owns 4,657 shares of the company's stock valued at $50,000 after purchasing an additional 2,296 shares in the last quarter. Marshall Wace LLP acquired a new position in shares of Nikola in the 4th quarter valued at about $25,000. Beacon Pointe Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Nikola in the 1st quarter valued at about $134,000. Finally, PNC Financial Services Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Nikola by 577.7% during the 1st quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 15,302 shares of the company's stock valued at $163,000 after buying an additional 13,044 shares during the period. 24.17% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Nikola Trading Up 7.3 %

NASDAQ:NKLA traded up $0.04 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $0.64. The company's stock had a trading volume of 84,097,270 shares, compared to its average volume of 90,807,883. The company's fifty day simple moving average is $0.71 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $0.95. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.37, a current ratio of 2.20 and a quick ratio of 1.96. Nikola has a twelve month low of $0.52 and a twelve month high of $3.71. The stock has a market cap of $859.87 million, a P/E ratio of -0.51 and a beta of 1.95.

Nikola (NASDAQ:NKLA - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 22nd. The company reported ($0.12) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of ($0.17) by $0.05. Nikola had a negative return on equity of 122.20% and a negative net margin of 1,475.52%. The firm had revenue of $11.53 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $14.52 million. During the same period last year, the company earned ($0.46) EPS. On average, equities analysts predict that Nikola will post -0.44 EPS for the current year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have weighed in on NKLA. Robert W. Baird began coverage on Nikola in a report on Wednesday, January 24th. They issued an "outperform" rating and a $2.00 target price on the stock. DA Davidson reaffirmed a "neutral" rating and set a $1.00 price objective on shares of Nikola in a research note on Tuesday, March 5th.

About Nikola

Nikola Corporation operates as a technology innovator and integrator that develops energy and transportation solutions. It operates through two business units, Truck and Energy. The Truck business unit develops and commercializes battery electric vehicles (BEV) and hydrogen fuel cell electric vehicles (FCEV) to the trucking sector.