Needham & Company LLC Reaffirms Buy Rating for Joby Aviation (NYSE:JOBY)

Joby Aviation (NYSE:JOBY)‘s stock had its “buy” rating restated by stock analysts at Needham & Company LLC in a research note issued to investors on Thursday,Benzinga reports. They presently have a $10.00 target price on the stock. Needham & Company LLC’s target price suggests a potential upside of 50.04% from the stock’s previous close.

A number of other research analysts also recently issued reports on the stock. Canaccord Genuity Group upped their target price on shares of Joby Aviation from $9.75 to $11.50 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 8th. HC Wainwright restated a “buy” rating and set a $9.00 target price on shares of Joby Aviation in a research report on Wednesday, December 18th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. downgraded shares of Joby Aviation from a “neutral” rating to an “underweight” rating and upped their target price for the company from $5.00 to $6.00 in a research report on Friday, January 10th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $9.10.

Joby Aviation Stock Up 2.5 %

Shares of NYSE JOBY opened at $6.67 on Thursday. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $8.17 and its 200 day simple moving average is $6.71. The company has a market cap of $5.10 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -9.52 and a beta of 2.33. Joby Aviation has a 12-month low of $4.50 and a 12-month high of $10.72.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Didier Papadopoulos sold 6,005 shares of Joby Aviation stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $7.65, for a total transaction of $45,938.25. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 54,776 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $419,036.40. This trade represents a 9.88 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Joeben Bevirt sold 250,000 shares of Joby Aviation stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, January 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $9.84, for a total transaction of $2,460,000.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 32,325,793 shares in the company, valued at $318,085,803.12. The trade was a 0.77 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 1,018,699 shares of company stock valued at $8,628,124 in the last 90 days. 32.40% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of JOBY. Toyota Motor Corp bought a new position in Joby Aviation during the 4th quarter worth approximately $640,259,000. Uber Technologies Inc acquired a new stake in Joby Aviation during the 4th quarter worth approximately $207,842,000. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in Joby Aviation by 15.8% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 46,760,562 shares of the company’s stock worth $380,163,000 after buying an additional 6,388,232 shares during the period. Nuveen Asset Management LLC raised its holdings in Joby Aviation by 331.4% during the 4th quarter. Nuveen Asset Management LLC now owns 4,260,082 shares of the company’s stock worth $34,634,000 after buying an additional 3,272,597 shares during the period. Finally, Baillie Gifford & Co. raised its holdings in shares of Joby Aviation by 4.3% in the fourth quarter. Baillie Gifford & Co. now owns 55,032,165 shares of the company’s stock valued at $447,412,000 after purchasing an additional 2,281,161 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 52.85% of the company’s stock.

About Joby Aviation

Joby Aviation, Inc, a vertically integrated air mobility company, engages in building an electric vertical takeoff and landing aircraft optimized to deliver air transportation as a service. The company intends to build an aerial ridesharing service, as well as developing an application-based platform that will enable consumers to book rides.