Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) Stock Price Up 4% After Analyst Upgrade

Shares of Tesla, Inc. (NASDAQ:TSLA) rose 4% during mid-day trading on Wednesday after Mizuho raised their price target on the stock from $375.00 to $450.00. Mizuho currently has an outperform rating on the stock. Tesla traded as high as $444.21 and last traded at $442.79. Approximately 91,485,110 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 11% from the average daily volume of 103,170,719 shares. The stock had previously closed at $425.85.

Several other equities analysts have also issued reports on the stock. Royal Bank Of Canada restated an “overweight” rating on shares of Tesla in a report on Tuesday, July 29th. Wedbush reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $500.00 price target on shares of Tesla in a research note on Monday, September 15th. Bank of America lifted their price target on shares of Tesla from $305.00 to $341.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, July 21st. UBS Group set a $290.00 price target on shares of Tesla in a research note on Monday, June 30th. Finally, China Renaissance reaffirmed a “hold” rating and issued a $349.00 price target on shares of Tesla in a research note on Friday, July 25th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nineteen have given a Buy rating, twelve have given a Hold rating and nine have assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $326.74.

Insider Transactions at Tesla

In other news, SVP Xiaotong Zhu sold 20,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $363.75, for a total transaction of $7,275,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president directly owned 47,600 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $17,314,500. The trade was a 29.59% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CFO Vaibhav Taneja sold 2,606 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, September 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $352.38, for a total transaction of $918,302.28. Following the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 9,856 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,473,057.28. The trade was a 20.91% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 208,606 shares of company stock valued at $77,360,462 over the last three months. Corporate insiders own 19.90% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Tesla

Institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Holos Integrated Wealth LLC boosted its position in Tesla by 10.8% during the second quarter. Holos Integrated Wealth LLC now owns 309 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock valued at $102,000 after purchasing an additional 30 shares during the last quarter. First Merchants Corp boosted its position in Tesla by 1.3% during the second quarter. First Merchants Corp now owns 2,413 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock valued at $767,000 after purchasing an additional 31 shares during the last quarter. Kaye Capital Management boosted its position in Tesla by 3.1% during the second quarter. Kaye Capital Management now owns 1,047 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock valued at $333,000 after purchasing an additional 31 shares during the last quarter. Spectrum Wealth Advisory Group LLC boosted its position in Tesla by 3.4% during the second quarter. Spectrum Wealth Advisory Group LLC now owns 941 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock valued at $299,000 after purchasing an additional 31 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Wambolt & Associates LLC boosted its position in Tesla by 1.0% during the second quarter. Wambolt & Associates LLC now owns 3,119 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock valued at $938,000 after purchasing an additional 31 shares during the last quarter. 66.20% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Tesla Stock Up 4.0%

The firm has a 50-day moving average of $347.75 and a 200 day moving average of $311.58. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07, a current ratio of 2.04 and a quick ratio of 1.55. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.47 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 255.95, a PEG ratio of 14.86 and a beta of 2.06.

Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 23rd. The electric vehicle producer reported $0.40 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.43 by ($0.03). Tesla had a net margin of 6.54% and a return on equity of 7.98%. The company had revenue of $22.50 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $23.18 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.52 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 11.8% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Tesla, Inc. will post 2.56 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

About Tesla

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.