Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) Stock Price Expected to Rise, Mizuho Analyst Says

Key Points

• Mizuho analysts have raised Tesla's target price from $450.00 to $485.00, indicating a potential upside of 10.49% from the current stock price.
• Profits for Tesla exceeded expectations, with a reported earnings per share (EPS) of $0.50, surpassing the consensus estimate of $0.48.
• Insiders have recently sold significant stock amounts, with CFO Vaibhav Taneja selling 2,606 shares for approximately $918,302.

Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA - Get Free Report) had its target price raised by stock analysts at Mizuho from $450.00 to $485.00 in a research report issued to clients and investors on Thursday,Briefing.com Automated Import reports. The brokerage presently has an "outperform" rating on the electric vehicle producer's stock. Mizuho's price objective would indicate a potential upside of 10.49% from the stock's current price.

Other analysts have also recently issued reports about the company. Industrial Alliance Securities set a $300.00 price target on Tesla in a research report on Monday, October 13th. Baird R W upgraded Tesla from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Friday, September 19th. Dbs Bank increased their target price on Tesla from $300.00 to $450.00 in a research note on Wednesday, September 17th. Wedbush restated an "outperform" rating and set a $600.00 price target on shares of Tesla in a report on Monday. Finally, Barclays reiterated a "negative" rating and issued a $350.00 price target (up previously from $275.00) on shares of Tesla in a research note on Thursday, October 16th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-one have assigned a Buy rating, twelve have given a Hold rating and ten have given a Sell rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Tesla currently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $375.50.

Tesla Stock Performance

Shares of TSLA stock opened at $438.97 on Thursday. The company's fifty day moving average price is $393.73 and its 200-day moving average price is $336.97. The stock has a market cap of $1.46 trillion, a PE ratio of 253.74, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 15.91 and a beta of 2.08. The company has a current ratio of 2.04, a quick ratio of 1.55 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07. Tesla has a 12 month low of $212.11 and a 12 month high of $488.54.

Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 22nd. The electric vehicle producer reported $0.50 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.48 by $0.02. Tesla had a net margin of 6.54% and a return on equity of 7.98%. The company had revenue of $28.10 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $24.98 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.72 EPS. Tesla's revenue was up 11.6% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts expect that Tesla will post 2.56 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CFO Vaibhav Taneja sold 2,606 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, September 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $352.38, for a total transaction of $918,302.28. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 9,856 shares of the company's stock, valued at $3,473,057.28. The trade was a 20.91% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director James R. Murdoch sold 120,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $350.29, for a total transaction of $42,034,800.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 697,031 shares in the company, valued at $244,162,988.99. This represents a 14.69% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 202,606 shares of company stock valued at $75,588,902. 19.90% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Tesla

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in Tesla by 1.8% in the second quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 251,390,681 shares of the electric vehicle producer's stock worth $79,856,764,000 after purchasing an additional 4,502,976 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Tesla by 2.0% in the 2nd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 64,767,993 shares of the electric vehicle producer's stock worth $20,480,477,000 after purchasing an additional 1,269,304 shares during the period. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Tesla in the second quarter worth approximately $11,839,824,000. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. grew its position in Tesla by 322.1% during the first quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 26,590,525 shares of the electric vehicle producer's stock valued at $6,891,201,000 after buying an additional 20,291,139 shares during the period. Finally, Legal & General Group Plc increased its holdings in Tesla by 5.9% during the second quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 20,225,098 shares of the electric vehicle producer's stock valued at $6,424,705,000 after buying an additional 1,134,678 shares during the last quarter. 66.20% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.

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