XPeng Sees Unusually High Options Volume (NYSE:XPEV)

XPeng Inc. (NYSE:XPEV) was the target of unusually large options trading on Wednesday. Stock traders purchased 47,938 call options on the company. This is an increase of approximately 32% compared to the typical daily volume of 36,375 call options.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On XPeng

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Bayforest Capital Ltd raised its holdings in shares of XPeng by 145.5% in the 1st quarter. Bayforest Capital Ltd now owns 2,283 shares of the company’s stock valued at $47,000 after buying an additional 1,353 shares during the period. Sender Co & Partners Inc. purchased a new position in XPeng in the first quarter valued at approximately $360,000. Advisors Asset Management Inc. increased its stake in XPeng by 14.7% in the first quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. now owns 60,757 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,259,000 after purchasing an additional 7,787 shares during the last quarter. Royal Bank of Canada increased its stake in XPeng by 33.6% in the first quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 23,657 shares of the company’s stock valued at $490,000 after purchasing an additional 5,945 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Vident Advisory LLC boosted its position in shares of XPeng by 34.1% in the 1st quarter. Vident Advisory LLC now owns 71,919 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,490,000 after purchasing an additional 18,287 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 21.09% of the company’s stock.

XPeng Trading Up 13.1%

Shares of NYSE:XPEV opened at $22.27 on Thursday. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $19.98 and a 200-day moving average price of $16.76. The company has a quick ratio of 1.18, a current ratio of 1.37 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.22. The stock has a market cap of $21.13 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -25.59 and a beta of 2.64. XPeng has a 52-week low of $6.60 and a 52-week high of $27.16.

XPeng (NYSE:XPEV) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, March 18th. The company reported ($0.19) EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($1.36) by $1.17. The company had revenue of $2.21 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $16.11 billion. XPeng had a negative return on equity of 16.92% and a negative net margin of 15.35%. Equities analysts predict that XPeng will post -0.96 EPS for the current year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have recently weighed in on XPEV. Nomura raised XPeng from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their target price for the company from $14.00 to $30.00 in a research report on Wednesday, March 19th. Macquarie upgraded XPeng from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday. UBS Group upgraded XPeng from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $8.80 to $18.00 in a research note on Monday, February 24th. Nomura Securities upgraded XPeng to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 18th. Finally, Daiwa America cut XPeng from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 19th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating, six have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $22.20.

About XPeng

XPeng Inc designs, develops, manufactures, and markets smart electric vehicles (EVs) in the People's Republic of China. It offers SUVs under the G3, G3i, and G9 names; four-door sports sedans under the P7 and P7i names; and family sedans under the P5 name. The company also provides sales contracts, super charging, maintenance, technical support, auto financing, insurance, technology support, ride-hailing, automotive loan referral, and other services, as well as vehicle leasing and insurance agency services.