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

Key Points

• Tesla's stock price surged by 4% after Mizuho raised their price target from $375.00 to $450.00, resulting in shares trading at around $442.79.
• Various analysts have differing opinions on Tesla, with two ratings of Strong Buy, a consensus rating of "Hold", and an average price target of $326.74.
• Insider activity showed significant sales, including Director James R. Murdoch selling 120,000 shares at approximately $350.29 each, indicating a 14.69% decrease in ownership.

Shares of Tesla, Inc. (NASDAQ:TSLA - Get Free Report) shot up 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. 91,485,110 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 11% from the average session volume of 103,170,719 shares. The stock had previously closed at $425.85.

Several other equities research analysts have also commented on TSLA. Glj Research reissued a "sell" rating on shares of Tesla in a research note on Thursday, July 24th. UBS Group set a $290.00 price target on Tesla in a research note on Monday, June 30th. CICC Research boosted their price target on Tesla from $360.00 to $450.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, September 18th. Bank of America boosted their price target on Tesla from $305.00 to $341.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Monday, July 21st. Finally, Piper Sandler boosted their price target on Tesla from $400.00 to $500.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Monday. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nineteen have issued a Buy rating, twelve have assigned a Hold rating and nine have issued a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $326.74.

Insider Transactions at Tesla

In other Tesla news, Director James R. Murdoch sold 120,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $350.29, for a total value of $42,034,800.00. Following the transaction, the director owned 697,031 shares of the company's stock, valued at $244,162,988.99. This trade represents a 14.69% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, SVP Xiaotong Zhu sold 20,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $363.75, for a total transaction of $7,275,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 47,600 shares in the company, valued at $17,314,500. This represents a 29.59% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 208,606 shares of company stock valued at $77,360,462. 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 stock. Momentum Wealth Planning LLC acquired a new position in shares of Tesla during the second quarter valued at approximately $3,114,000. RS Crum Inc. grew its position in Tesla by 16.1% in the second quarter. RS Crum Inc. now owns 1,621 shares of the electric vehicle producer's stock worth $515,000 after buying an additional 225 shares during the last quarter. Caldwell Trust Co acquired a new position in Tesla in the second quarter worth approximately $643,000. Base Wealth Management LLC grew its position in Tesla by 7.2% in the second quarter. Base Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,300 shares of the electric vehicle producer's stock worth $413,000 after buying an additional 87 shares during the last quarter. Finally, WT Wealth Management grew its position in Tesla by 178.7% in the second quarter. WT Wealth Management now owns 9,313 shares of the electric vehicle producer's stock worth $2,958,000 after buying an additional 5,972 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 66.20% of the company's stock.

Tesla Stock Performance

The company has a quick ratio of 1.55, a current ratio of 2.04 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07. The stock has a market cap of $1.47 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 255.95, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 15.15 and a beta of 2.06. The company's 50-day simple moving average is $345.33 and its 200-day simple moving average is $310.67.

Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 23rd. The electric vehicle producer reported $0.40 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.43 by ($0.03). The firm had revenue of $22.50 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $23.18 billion. Tesla had a return on equity of 7.98% and a net margin of 6.54%.The company's revenue for the quarter was down 11.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.52 EPS. Analysts predict that Tesla, Inc. will post 2.56 EPS for the current fiscal 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.

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