Mizuho Reiterates “Outperform” Rating for Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA)

Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA)‘s stock had its “outperform” rating reaffirmed by Mizuho in a research note issued on Thursday,Benzinga reports. They presently have a $515.00 price objective on the electric vehicle producer’s stock. Mizuho’s target price points to a potential upside of 27.50% from the company’s previous close.

A number of other brokerages have also recently weighed in on TSLA. Needham & Company LLC restated a “hold” rating on shares of Tesla in a research note on Thursday. Guggenheim reiterated a “sell” rating and set a $175.00 target price on shares of Tesla in a research note on Wednesday. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on shares of Tesla from $125.00 to $135.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a report on Thursday. KGI Securities raised shares of Tesla from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $276.00 target price on the stock in a report on Thursday, October 24th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group upped their target price on shares of Tesla from $250.00 to $345.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 11th. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have given a hold rating, sixteen have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $317.28.

Tesla Price Performance

Shares of TSLA traded up $14.82 during mid-day trading on Thursday, hitting $403.92. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 68,573,209 shares, compared to its average volume of 73,334,359. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $401.98 and a 200 day moving average price of $297.28. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.30 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 111.19, a PEG ratio of 8.42 and a beta of 2.30. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08, a current ratio of 1.84 and a quick ratio of 1.37. Tesla has a fifty-two week low of $138.80 and a fifty-two week high of $488.54.

Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 29th. The electric vehicle producer reported $0.66 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.74 by ($0.08). Tesla had a net margin of 13.07% and a return on equity of 10.24%. On average, research analysts predict that Tesla will post 2.01 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Tesla news, Director Kimbal Musk sold 60,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $250.23, for a total value of $15,138,915.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 1,563,220 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $391,164,540.60. This trade represents a 3.73 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CFO Vaibhav Taneja sold 4,000 shares of Tesla stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $251.76, for a total transaction of $1,007,040.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 105,032 shares in the company, valued at $26,442,856.32. This trade represents a 3.67 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 617,886 shares of company stock worth $212,451,751 in the last ninety days. Insiders own 20.70% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Tesla

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Quadrant Private Wealth Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Tesla by 10.3% in the fourth quarter. Quadrant Private Wealth Management LLC now owns 6,640 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock worth $2,681,000 after buying an additional 618 shares in the last quarter. Adell Harriman & Carpenter Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Tesla by 3.9% in the fourth quarter. Adell Harriman & Carpenter Inc. now owns 8,550 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock worth $3,453,000 after buying an additional 323 shares in the last quarter. Latko Wealth Management Ltd. purchased a new stake in shares of Tesla in the fourth quarter worth about $202,000. Kanawha Capital Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Tesla in the fourth quarter worth approximately $258,000. Finally, Campbell Wealth Management bought a new position in shares of Tesla in the fourth quarter worth approximately $372,000. Institutional investors own 66.20% of the company’s stock.

Tesla Company Profile

Tesla, Inc designs, develops, manufactures, leases, and sells electric vehicles, and energy generation and storage systems in the United States, China, and internationally. The company operates in two segments, Automotive, and Energy Generation and Storage. The Automotive segment offers electric vehicles, as well as sells automotive regulatory credits; and non-warranty after-sales vehicle, used vehicles, body shop and parts, supercharging, retail merchandise, and vehicle insurance services.