Energy Vault (NYSE:NRGV) Stock Sees Heavy Call Option Buying

Key Points

• Energy Vault saw unusually heavy call-option activity: Traders purchased 8,108 call options, 58% above the average volume of 5,119.
• Insider and institutional activity was mixed: Director Dylan Hixon bought 27,472 shares, while Director Stephanie Unwin sold 115,000 shares. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 40.03% of the company.
• Analyst sentiment remains divided: Several firms raised their price targets and maintained Buy or Overweight ratings, but others issued Sell or Strong Sell ratings. The stock carries an overall “Hold” rating with an average price target of $6.01, compared with a recent price of $3.62.

Energy Vault Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:NRGV - Get Free Report) saw unusually large options trading on Wednesday. Traders bought 8,108 call options on the company. This is an increase of 58% compared to the average volume of 5,119 call options.

Insider Activity at Energy Vault

In other news, Director Dylan Hixon purchased 27,472 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Monday, August 17th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $3.88 per share, with a total value of $106,591.36. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 27,472 shares of the company's stock, valued at $106,591.36. The trade was a ∞ increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Stephanie Unwin sold 115,000 shares of Energy Vault stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $3.71, for a total value of $426,650.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 182,245 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $676,128.95. This trade represents a 38.69% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Corporate insiders own 17.20% of the company's stock.

Institutional Trading of Energy Vault

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in NRGV. Private Capital Advisors Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Energy Vault during the 3rd quarter valued at about $316,000. Tidal Investments LLC raised its stake in Energy Vault by 105.9% during the second quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 688,592 shares of the company's stock worth $3,243,000 after purchasing an additional 354,220 shares during the period. SailingStone Capital Partners LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Energy Vault by 0.5% in the 2nd quarter. SailingStone Capital Partners LLC now owns 4,469,075 shares of the company's stock valued at $21,049,000 after purchasing an additional 24,058 shares during the last quarter. Arizona State Retirement System grew its stake in shares of Energy Vault by 37.6% during the 2nd quarter. Arizona State Retirement System now owns 33,637 shares of the company's stock valued at $158,000 after buying an additional 9,186 shares during the period. Finally, Amundi acquired a new stake in shares of Energy Vault during the 2nd quarter worth $827,000. 40.03% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

NRGV has been the subject of a number of research reports. Roth Capital reissued a "buy" rating and issued a $7.00 price objective (up from $5.00) on shares of Energy Vault in a research note on Wednesday, August 12th. Weiss Ratings downgraded shares of Energy Vault from a "sell (d-)" rating to a "sell (e+)" rating in a report on Wednesday, August 12th. Citigroup boosted their target price on shares of Energy Vault from $5.00 to $6.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, August 20th. Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed an "overweight" rating and issued a $7.00 price target on shares of Energy Vault in a research report on Wednesday, August 12th. Finally, Wall Street Zen lowered Energy Vault from a "sell" rating to a "strong sell" rating in a report on Saturday, August 15th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, one has issued a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $6.01.

Energy Vault Stock Performance

NYSE:NRGV traded down $0.27 during midday trading on Wednesday, reaching $3.62. The stock had a trading volume of 1,347,902 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,481,572. The stock has a market cap of $657.35 million, a P/E ratio of -5.48 and a beta of 1.25. Energy Vault has a 12-month low of $2.50 and a 12-month high of $6.64. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $3.80 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $4.02. The company has a quick ratio of 1.19, a current ratio of 1.19 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 24.07.

Energy Vault (NYSE:NRGV - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, August 11th. The company reported ($0.17) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.14) by ($0.03). The business had revenue of $17.37 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $14.24 million. Energy Vault had a negative return on equity of 236.83% and a negative net margin of 48.58%. On average, equities analysts expect that Energy Vault will post -0.56 EPS for the current year.

About Energy Vault

Energy Vault Holdings, Inc NYSE: NRGV develops and deploys long-duration energy storage systems designed to help utilities, renewable energy developers and industrial customers store electricity and improve grid reliability. Its solutions are intended to complement intermittent renewable power sources such as wind and solar by storing energy when supply is abundant and releasing it when demand is higher.

The company's portfolio includes gravity-based energy storage systems, which use mechanical structures and heavy materials to store and release energy, as well as battery energy storage solutions.

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