Lithium Americas (NYSE:LAC) Trading 2.5% Higher on Analyst Upgrade

Lithium Americas Corp. (NYSE:LAC)’s share price shot up 2.5% during mid-day trading on Wednesday after Canaccord Genuity Group upgraded the stock from a sell rating to a hold rating. The company traded as high as $5.43 and last traded at $5.1150. 24,342,747 shares were traded during mid-day trading, an increase of 50% from the average session volume of 16,279,152 shares. The stock had previously closed at $4.99.

Several other equities research analysts also recently weighed in on LAC. TD Cowen reaffirmed a “hold” rating and issued a $5.00 target price on shares of Lithium Americas in a research report on Thursday, September 25th. Weiss Ratings restated a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Lithium Americas in a research note on Friday, October 31st. BMO Capital Markets upped their target price on Lithium Americas from $3.50 to $5.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday, October 2nd. Wedbush increased their price objective on shares of Lithium Americas from $5.00 to $8.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 1st. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group decreased their price target on Lithium Americas from $8.00 to $7.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, September 24th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, twelve have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Lithium Americas presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $5.33.

Insider Activity

In other Lithium Americas news, SVP Edward Grandy sold 6,183 shares of Lithium Americas stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $4.50, for a total value of $27,823.50. Following the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 135,466 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $609,597. The trade was a 4.37% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, VP Alexi Illya Zawadzki sold 353,914 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, October 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $9.48, for a total value of $3,355,104.72. Following the sale, the vice president owned 40,005 shares in the company, valued at approximately $379,247.40. This represents a 89.84% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 364,860 shares of company stock worth $3,404,362. 1.11% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Lithium Americas

Institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Quarry LP bought a new stake in shares of Lithium Americas in the 3rd quarter valued at $28,000. Harbour Investments Inc. increased its holdings in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 4,580 shares during the last quarter. Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management acquired a new stake in Lithium Americas during the first quarter worth approximately $27,000. Masso Torrence Wealth Management Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Lithium Americas in the third quarter valued at about $57,000. Finally, Gainplan LLC bought a new position in Lithium Americas during the 3rd quarter worth $58,000.

Lithium Americas Stock Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.84, a quick ratio of 9.88 and a current ratio of 3.77. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $5.75 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $3.86. The company has a market cap of $1.26 billion, a P/E ratio of -4.87 and a beta of 1.41.

Lithium Americas (NYSE:LAC) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, November 13th. The company reported ($0.02) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.05) by $0.03. As a group, equities analysts predict that Lithium Americas Corp. will post -0.12 earnings per share for the current year.

About Lithium Americas

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.