Needham & Company LLC Reaffirms “Hold” Rating for Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA)

Needham & Company LLC reissued their hold rating on shares of Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) in a research report report published on Friday, Benzinga reports.

A number of other brokerages have also recently weighed in on TSLA. Wells Fargo & Company restated an underweight rating and issued a $120.00 price target on shares of Tesla in a research report on Monday, July 1st. Oppenheimer restated a market perform rating on shares of Tesla in a research report on Tuesday, October 8th. Roth Mkm reiterated a neutral rating and issued a $85.00 price target on shares of Tesla in a research report on Wednesday, July 24th. Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed a neutral rating and issued a $245.00 target price on shares of Tesla in a research note on Monday, October 7th. Finally, Citigroup lowered their target price on Tesla from $274.00 to $258.00 and set a neutral rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, July 24th. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seventeen have issued a hold rating and thirteen have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Tesla has an average rating of Hold and an average price target of $210.72.

Tesla Stock Performance

Shares of TSLA opened at $217.80 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.40, a current ratio of 1.91 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08. Tesla has a 52-week low of $138.80 and a 52-week high of $271.00. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $225.43 and a 200-day simple moving average of $203.96. The company has a market capitalization of $695.79 billion, a PE ratio of 61.18, a P/E/G ratio of 6.48 and a beta of 2.29.

Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 23rd. The electric vehicle producer reported $0.52 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.62 by ($0.10). The company had revenue of $25.50 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $24.38 billion. Tesla had a net margin of 13.00% and a return on equity of 10.41%. Tesla’s revenue was up 2.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.78 earnings per share. Equities research analysts predict that Tesla will post 1.75 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Tesla news, CFO Vaibhav Taneja sold 8,000 shares of Tesla stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, September 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $250.00, for a total transaction of $2,000,000.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 105,032 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $26,258,000. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other news, CFO Vaibhav Taneja sold 8,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, September 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $250.00, for a total value of $2,000,000.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 105,032 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $26,258,000. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, SVP Xiaotong Zhu sold 297 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, September 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $221.77, for a total transaction of $65,865.69. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 67,491 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $14,967,479.07. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 74,661 shares of company stock valued at $16,663,291. 20.70% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Tesla

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of TSLA. Bank & Trust Co acquired a new position in shares of Tesla during the second quarter worth $25,000. Clean Yield Group increased its stake in Tesla by 60.0% during the 3rd quarter. Clean Yield Group now owns 128 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock worth $33,000 after buying an additional 48 shares during the period. Abich Financial Wealth Management LLC lifted its holdings in Tesla by 168.8% in the 2nd quarter. Abich Financial Wealth Management LLC now owns 129 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock worth $26,000 after buying an additional 81 shares in the last quarter. Valley Wealth Managers Inc. purchased a new position in Tesla in the 2nd quarter valued at about $26,000. Finally, M&R Capital Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of Tesla by 263.2% during the third quarter. M&R Capital Management Inc. now owns 138 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock valued at $36,000 after acquiring an additional 100 shares in the last quarter. 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.