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

Mizuho reaffirmed their outperform rating on shares of Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) in a research report sent to investors on Thursday morning,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a $515.00 price objective on the electric vehicle producer’s stock.

Several other equities research analysts have also commented on TSLA. Sanford C. Bernstein reiterated an “underperform” rating and set a $120.00 price objective on shares of Tesla in a research note on Thursday, October 3rd. Jefferies Financial Group increased their price objective on Tesla from $195.00 to $300.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 14th. UBS Group upped their target price on shares of Tesla from $197.00 to $226.00 and gave the stock a “sell” rating in a report on Monday, November 25th. Robert W. Baird decreased their price target on shares of Tesla from $480.00 to $440.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday. Finally, Barclays upped their price objective on shares of Tesla from $270.00 to $325.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 15th. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have issued a hold rating, sixteen have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $318.31.

Tesla Stock Performance

NASDAQ TSLA opened at $404.60 on Thursday. The company has a current ratio of 1.84, a quick ratio of 1.37 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08. Tesla has a twelve month low of $138.80 and a twelve month high of $488.54. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $404.22 and a 200 day moving average of $299.05. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.30 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 198.33, a PEG ratio of 8.08 and a beta of 2.30.

Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The electric vehicle producer reported $0.66 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.74 by ($0.08). Tesla had a net margin of 7.26% and a return on equity of 10.54%. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Tesla will post 2.82 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CFO Vaibhav Taneja sold 7,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, January 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $413.56, for a total transaction of $2,894,920.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 108,965 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $45,063,565.40. The trade was a 6.04 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Kathleen Wilson-Thompson sold 100,000 shares of Tesla stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, January 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $411.63, for a total transaction of $41,163,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 5,400 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,222,802. This represents a 94.88 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 553,386 shares of company stock worth $196,305,796 in the last ninety days. 20.70% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Transcendent Capital Group LLC acquired a new stake in Tesla during the third quarter worth approximately $29,000. Farmers & Merchants Trust Co of Chambersburg PA purchased a new position in shares of Tesla in the 4th quarter valued at $46,000. PayPay Securities Corp raised its stake in Tesla by 130.2% during the 4th quarter. PayPay Securities Corp now owns 122 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock worth $49,000 after acquiring an additional 69 shares in the last quarter. Clean Yield Group lifted its position in Tesla by 60.0% in the third quarter. Clean Yield Group now owns 128 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock valued at $33,000 after acquiring an additional 48 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Peterson Financial Group Inc. acquired a new position in Tesla in the third quarter valued at $35,000. 66.20% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.