Stock Traders Purchase High Volume of Nokia Call Options (NYSE:NOK)

Nokia Corporation (NYSE:NOK) was the target of some unusual options trading activity on Thursday. Stock investors acquired 596,404 call options on the stock. This represents an increase of 153% compared to the average volume of 235,735 call options.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Nokia

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of NOK. DV Trading LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Nokia during the 1st quarter worth approximately $111,000. Parallel Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of Nokia by 40.1% during the 1st quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 43,189 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $347,000 after buying an additional 12,364 shares during the period. NewEdge Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of Nokia by 352.8% during the 1st quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 14,788 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $119,000 after buying an additional 11,522 shares during the period. Arete Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Nokia during the first quarter valued at approximately $2,106,000. Finally, Bank of America Corp DE grew its holdings in Nokia by 105.2% during the first quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 2,434,347 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $19,572,000 after purchasing an additional 1,248,249 shares during the period. 5.28% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Nokia Trading Down 0.7%

Shares of NYSE NOK opened at $16.74 on Thursday. Nokia has a 1-year low of $4.00 and a 1-year high of $17.45. The company has a market cap of $96.10 billion, a PE ratio of 104.60, a P/E/G ratio of 3.26 and a beta of 1.15. The company has a current ratio of 1.57, a quick ratio of 1.32 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.11. The company has a 50-day moving average of $11.83 and a two-hundred day moving average of $8.62.

Nokia (NYSE:NOK) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, March 31st. The technology company reported $0.06 earnings per share for the quarter. Nokia had a net margin of 4.02% and a return on equity of 9.05%. The company had revenue of $5.21 billion during the quarter. As a group, equities analysts expect that Nokia will post 0.4 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Nokia from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Sunday, May 3rd. The Goldman Sachs Group raised shares of Nokia from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, March 30th. Arete Research raised shares of Nokia from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 29th. Danske downgraded shares of Nokia from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 24th. Finally, Argus raised shares of Nokia from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $15.00 price target for the company in a report on Monday, April 27th. Twelve equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have assigned a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $10.71.

Nokia Company Profile

Nokia Corporation, headquartered in Espoo, Finland, is a global telecommunications and technology company with roots dating back to 1865. Over its long history the company moved from forestry and cable operations into electronics and telecommunications, becoming widely known in the 1990s and 2000s for its mobile phones. In recent years Nokia refocused its business toward network infrastructure, software and technology licensing, and research and development, following the divestiture of its handset manufacturing business and the acquisition of Alcatel‑Lucent in 2016, which brought Bell Labs into its portfolio.

Today Nokia’s core activities center on designing, building and supporting communications networks and related software.