Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) Earns “Outperform” Rating from Wedbush

Wedbush reaffirmed their outperform rating on shares of Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) in a report published on Thursday,Benzinga reports. Wedbush currently has a $550.00 target price on the electric vehicle producer’s stock.

Other equities analysts have also recently issued reports about the stock. Mizuho cut their target price on shares of Tesla from $515.00 to $430.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Monday. Robert W. Baird reduced their price objective on Tesla from $440.00 to $370.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, March 6th. The Goldman Sachs Group reiterated a “cautious” rating on shares of Tesla in a research note on Monday, March 3rd. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their price target on Tesla from $295.00 to $370.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, December 9th. Finally, Canaccord Genuity Group reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $404.00 price objective on shares of Tesla in a research note on Monday. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating, twenty have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $319.56.

Tesla Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:TSLA opened at $236.26 on Thursday. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $338.11 and its 200 day moving average price is $319.44. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08, a current ratio of 2.02 and a quick ratio of 1.61. Tesla has a 12 month low of $138.80 and a 12 month high of $488.54. The firm has a market capitalization of $759.93 billion, a P/E ratio of 115.81, a P/E/G ratio of 5.86 and a beta of 2.50.

Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The electric vehicle producer reported $0.66 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.74 by ($0.08). Tesla had a return on equity of 10.31% and a net margin of 7.26%. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Tesla will post 2.56 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Tesla

In other Tesla news, Director James R. Murdoch sold 54,776 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, March 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $240.79, for a total transaction of $13,189,513.04. Following the transaction, the director now owns 477,011 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $114,859,478.69. This represents a 10.30 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CFO Vaibhav Taneja sold 7,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, January 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $413.56, for a total value of $2,894,920.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 108,965 shares in the company, valued at $45,063,565.40. This trade represents a 6.04 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 477,228 shares of company stock worth $166,849,043. Corporate insiders own 20.70% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of TSLA. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Tesla during the fourth quarter worth approximately $14,420,248,000. FMR LLC raised its position in shares of Tesla by 40.1% in the 4th quarter. FMR LLC now owns 34,661,400 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock worth $13,997,660,000 after buying an additional 9,920,325 shares during the period. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC raised its position in shares of Tesla by 36,790.0% in the 4th quarter. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC now owns 8,660,672 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock worth $3,497,526,000 after buying an additional 8,637,195 shares during the period. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA raised its holdings in shares of Tesla by 4,963.0% in the 4th quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 5,834,707 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock worth $2,356,288,000 after purchasing an additional 5,719,466 shares during the period. Finally, Northern Trust Corp raised its holdings in shares of Tesla by 21.6% in the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 28,579,615 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock worth $11,541,592,000 after purchasing an additional 5,075,418 shares during the period. 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.