Nikola (NASDAQ:NKLA) Shares Gap Up to $0.91

Nikola Co. (NASDAQ:NKLA)’s stock price gapped up before the market opened on Thursday . The stock had previously closed at $0.91, but opened at $0.96. Nikola shares last traded at $0.94, with a volume of 27,639,651 shares traded.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

NKLA has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. DA Davidson reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $1.00 price objective on shares of Nikola in a research report on Tuesday, March 5th. Robert W. Baird initiated coverage on Nikola in a research report on Wednesday, January 24th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $2.00 target price on the stock.

Nikola Price Performance

The company has a 50-day moving average price of $0.70 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $0.92. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.37, a current ratio of 2.20 and a quick ratio of 1.96. The company has a market cap of $1.38 billion, a PE ratio of -0.80 and a beta of 1.95.

Nikola (NASDAQ:NKLA) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, February 22nd. The company reported ($0.12) earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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 company had revenue of $11.53 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $14.52 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned ($0.46) earnings per share. Sell-side analysts expect that Nikola Co. will post -0.44 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Nikola

In related news, insider Joseph R. Pike sold 75,162 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $0.68, for a total value of $51,110.16. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 429,790 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $292,257.20. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 10.00% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Nikola

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Nikola during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $93,633,000. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in Nikola by 36.0% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 77,145,785 shares of the company’s stock valued at $67,487,000 after buying an additional 20,439,596 shares in the last quarter. BlackRock Inc. raised its stake in Nikola by 81.2% during the second quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 43,278,195 shares of the company’s stock valued at $59,724,000 after buying an additional 19,389,959 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp raised its stake in Nikola by 78.2% during the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 13,815,909 shares of the company’s stock valued at $19,066,000 after buying an additional 6,061,239 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in Nikola by 67.6% during the second quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 11,626,618 shares of the company’s stock valued at $16,045,000 after buying an additional 4,690,316 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 37.38% of the company’s stock.

Nikola Company Profile

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.