Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) Trading Up 1% After Analyst Upgrade

Tesla, Inc. (NASDAQ:TSLA) shares shot up 1% during trading on Thursday after Robert W. Baird raised their price target on the stock from $280.00 to $480.00. Robert W. Baird currently has an outperform rating on the stock. Tesla traded as high as $456.36 and last traded at $444.65. 41,792,681 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 56% from the average session volume of 94,912,141 shares. The stock had previously closed at $440.13.

TSLA has been the topic of several other reports. Wolfe Research began coverage on shares of Tesla in a report on Thursday, September 5th. They issued a “peer perform” rating on the stock. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price target on shares of Tesla from $249.00 to $313.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, November 15th. Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on shares of Tesla from $310.00 to $400.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. Glj Research restated a “sell” rating and set a $24.86 price target on shares of Tesla in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. Finally, Canaccord Genuity Group lifted their price objective on Tesla from $254.00 to $278.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, fifteen have assigned a hold rating, sixteen have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $272.06.

Insider Activity at Tesla

In related news, Director Kathleen Wilson-Thompson sold 100,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $346.02, for a total transaction of $34,602,000.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 5,400 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,868,508. The trade was a 94.88 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CFO Vaibhav Taneja sold 4,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, October 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $250.00, for a total transaction of $1,000,000.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 105,032 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $26,258,000. The trade was a 3.67 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 522,886 shares of company stock valued at $171,393,831. Company insiders own 20.70% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Tesla

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of TSLA. Connable Office Inc. grew its position in shares of Tesla by 0.3% during the 3rd quarter. Connable Office Inc. now owns 12,872 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock valued at $3,368,000 after buying an additional 38 shares during the last quarter. Community Bank N.A. lifted its holdings in shares of Tesla by 4.4% in the 3rd quarter. Community Bank N.A. now owns 908 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock worth $238,000 after purchasing an additional 38 shares during the last quarter. Holistic Financial Partners boosted its position in Tesla by 1.0% during the 3rd quarter. Holistic Financial Partners now owns 4,055 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock valued at $1,061,000 after purchasing an additional 40 shares during the period. Sherrill & Hutchins Financial Advisory Inc increased its position in Tesla by 1.4% in the third quarter. Sherrill & Hutchins Financial Advisory Inc now owns 3,058 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock worth $800,000 after buying an additional 43 shares during the period. Finally, Altman Advisors Inc. lifted its stake in Tesla by 0.4% in the third quarter. Altman Advisors Inc. now owns 10,754 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock valued at $2,814,000 after buying an additional 43 shares during the last quarter. 66.20% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Tesla Trading Down 3.5 %

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08, a current ratio of 1.84 and a quick ratio of 1.37. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $322.89 and its 200-day moving average price is $255.91. The company has a market cap of $1.35 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 115.36, a P/E/G ratio of 10.80 and a beta of 2.36.

Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 23rd. The electric vehicle producer reported $0.72 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.58 by $0.14. The company had revenue of $25.18 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $25.47 billion. Tesla had a net margin of 13.07% and a return on equity of 10.24%. Tesla’s revenue was up 7.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $0.53 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts expect that Tesla, Inc. will post 1.99 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.