Traders Purchase Large Volume of Call Options on Joby Aviation (NYSE:JOBY)

Joby Aviation, Inc. (NYSE:JOBY) saw some unusual options trading activity on Friday. Stock investors acquired 33,684 call options on the stock. This is an increase of 81% compared to the typical daily volume of 18,639 call options.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have weighed in on JOBY. Canaccord Genuity Group dropped their price objective on Joby Aviation from $10.50 to $9.75 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, October 29th. Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $10.00 price target on shares of Joby Aviation in a research note on Monday, September 30th. HC Wainwright reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $9.00 price objective on shares of Joby Aviation in a research note on Wednesday, December 18th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their target price on shares of Joby Aviation from $6.00 to $5.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, October 29th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC initiated coverage on shares of Joby Aviation in a research report on Tuesday, November 19th. They set a “buy” rating and a $8.00 price target on the stock. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $8.35.

Joby Aviation Stock Performance

Shares of JOBY opened at $9.77 on Friday. Joby Aviation has a 52 week low of $4.50 and a 52 week high of $9.82. The stock has a market capitalization of $7.47 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -13.96 and a beta of 2.32. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $7.18 and a 200-day moving average of $6.04.

Joby Aviation (NYSE:JOBY) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, November 6th. The company reported ($0.21) EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.19) by ($0.02). Joby Aviation had a negative net margin of 42,844.57% and a negative return on equity of 51.76%. The firm had revenue of $0.28 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $0.06 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted ($0.13) earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Joby Aviation will post -0.69 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity

In other Joby Aviation news, CEO Joeben Bevirt sold 23,886 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $8.08, for a total value of $192,998.88. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 768,293 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,207,807.44. This represents a 3.02 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Matthew Field sold 5,643 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, October 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $5.96, for a total transaction of $33,632.28. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 293,143 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,747,132.28. This represents a 1.89 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 103,111 shares of company stock valued at $674,055 over the last ninety days. 32.40% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Joby Aviation

Institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Tidal Investments LLC raised its holdings in Joby Aviation by 13.7% during the 3rd quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 29,246 shares of the company’s stock worth $147,000 after purchasing an additional 3,522 shares during the last quarter. Kensington Investment Counsel LLC boosted its position in Joby Aviation by 12.0% during the third quarter. Kensington Investment Counsel LLC now owns 34,099 shares of the company’s stock valued at $172,000 after acquiring an additional 3,653 shares during the last quarter. Amalgamated Bank grew its holdings in Joby Aviation by 46.2% during the 2nd quarter. Amalgamated Bank now owns 13,905 shares of the company’s stock worth $71,000 after acquiring an additional 4,391 shares during the period. Larson Financial Group LLC lifted its stake in shares of Joby Aviation by 218.3% in the 3rd quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 7,290 shares of the company’s stock valued at $37,000 after purchasing an additional 5,000 shares during the period. Finally, EP Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Joby Aviation by 15.4% in the 3rd quarter. EP Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 37,369 shares of the company’s stock valued at $188,000 after purchasing an additional 5,000 shares during the period. 52.85% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

About Joby Aviation

Joby Aviation, Inc, a vertically integrated air mobility company, engages in building an electric vertical takeoff and landing aircraft optimized to deliver air transportation as a service. The company intends to build an aerial ridesharing service, as well as developing an application-based platform that will enable consumers to book rides.