Lithium Americas (NYSE:LAC) Stock Price Up 7.5% After Analyst Upgrade

Lithium Americas Corp. (NYSE:LAC)’s share price rose 7.5% during mid-day trading on Friday after JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded the stock from an underweight rating to a neutral rating. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now has a $5.00 price target on the stock. Lithium Americas traded as high as $4.93 and last traded at $4.8890. 21,866,810 shares were traded during trading, an increase of 35% from the average daily volume of 16,221,979 shares. The stock had previously closed at $4.55.

LAC has been the topic of several other reports. Jefferies Financial Group dropped their target price on Lithium Americas from $8.00 to $7.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, September 24th. Cowen cut shares of Lithium Americas from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 24th. Scotiabank reiterated a “sector underperform” rating and issued a $5.00 target price (up from $2.75) on shares of Lithium Americas in a research note on Monday, October 6th. TD Securities downgraded shares of Lithium Americas from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $5.00 price target on the stock. in a report on Thursday, September 25th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Lithium Americas in a report on Friday, October 31st. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, ten have issued a Hold rating and three have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Lithium Americas presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $5.30.

Insider Buying and Selling at Lithium Americas

In other news, VP Alexi Illya Zawadzki sold 353,914 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, October 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $9.48, for a total value of $3,355,104.72. Following the transaction, the vice president owned 40,005 shares in the company, valued at $379,247.40. This trade represents a 89.84% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. 1.11% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in LAC. Harbour Investments Inc. boosted its stake in Lithium Americas by 86.1% during the 2nd quarter. Harbour Investments Inc. now owns 9,900 shares of the company’s stock worth $27,000 after purchasing an additional 4,580 shares during the last quarter. Ping Capital Management Inc. acquired a new position in Lithium Americas during the first quarter worth about $27,000. Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management acquired a new position in Lithium Americas during the first quarter worth about $27,000. Masso Torrence Wealth Management Inc. purchased a new stake in Lithium Americas during the 3rd quarter valued at about $57,000. Finally, Gainplan LLC acquired a new stake in Lithium Americas in the 3rd quarter valued at about $58,000.

Lithium Americas Trading Up 7.5%

The company has a current ratio of 9.88, a quick ratio of 9.88 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $5.44 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $3.73. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.21 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -21.26 and a beta of 1.41.

Lithium Americas (NYSE:LAC) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 14th. The company reported ($0.06) EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.04) by ($0.02). As a group, research analysts forecast that Lithium Americas Corp. will post -0.12 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Lithium Americas Company Profile

Lithium Americas Corp. engages in the exploration and development of lithium properties in the United States and Canada. It holds a 100% interest in the Thacker Pass project located in northern Nevada, as well as investments in exploration properties in the United States and Canada. Lithium Americas Corp.