Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) Trading Up 3.1% Following Analyst Upgrade

Tesla, Inc. (NASDAQ:TSLA)’s stock price shot up 3.1% during mid-day trading on Tuesday after Mizuho raised their price target on the stock from $475.00 to $530.00. Mizuho currently has an outperform rating on the stock. Tesla traded as high as $491.50 and last traded at $489.88. 104,941,357 shares were traded during trading, an increase of 6% from the average session volume of 98,772,156 shares. The stock had previously closed at $475.31.

TSLA has been the topic of a number of other research reports. Barclays restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $350.00 price target on shares of Tesla in a research report on Monday, December 1st. Melius initiated coverage on shares of Tesla in a research note on Monday, October 13th. They set a “buy” rating and a $520.00 price objective on the stock. William Blair restated a “market perform” rating on shares of Tesla in a research report on Friday, September 5th. HSBC restated a “reduce” rating on shares of Tesla in a research report on Monday, November 17th. Finally, Industrial Alliance Securities set a $300.00 target price on Tesla in a research report on Monday, October 13th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty have assigned a Buy rating, fourteen have given a Hold rating and nine have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Tesla currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $400.86.

Insider Activity

In other news, CFO Vaibhav Taneja sold 2,637 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $443.93, for a total value of $1,170,643.41. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 13,757 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,107,145.01. This represents a 16.09% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director Kimbal Musk sold 56,820 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, December 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $450.66, for a total transaction of $25,606,501.20. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 1,391,615 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $627,145,215.90. This trade represents a 3.92% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders own 19.90% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Relyea Zuckerberg Hanson LLC increased its holdings in Tesla by 0.4% during the 3rd quarter. Relyea Zuckerberg Hanson LLC now owns 6,558 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock worth $2,916,000 after purchasing an additional 23 shares in the last quarter. Equita Financial Network Inc. boosted its position in shares of Tesla by 2.8% during the third quarter. Equita Financial Network Inc. now owns 855 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock valued at $380,000 after buying an additional 23 shares during the last quarter. VanderPol Investments L.L.C. grew its holdings in Tesla by 2.2% during the third quarter. VanderPol Investments L.L.C. now owns 1,070 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock worth $464,000 after buying an additional 23 shares in the last quarter. Resonant Capital Advisors LLC raised its position in Tesla by 0.3% in the 3rd quarter. Resonant Capital Advisors LLC now owns 8,577 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock valued at $3,814,000 after buying an additional 23 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Cloud Capital Management LLC raised its position in Tesla by 1.1% in the 3rd quarter. Cloud Capital Management LLC now owns 2,076 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock valued at $923,000 after buying an additional 23 shares during the last quarter. 66.20% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Tesla Trading Down 4.6%

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07, a quick ratio of 1.67 and a current ratio of 2.07. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.55 trillion, a P/E ratio of 311.51, a PEG ratio of 12.24 and a beta of 1.87. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $437.67 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $378.86.

Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, October 23rd. The electric vehicle producer reported $0.50 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.48 by $0.02. Tesla had a net margin of 5.51% and a return on equity of 6.61%. The company had revenue of $28.10 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $24.98 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.72 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 11.6% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts forecast that Tesla, Inc. will post 2.56 earnings per share for the current year.

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.