Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) Shares Up 1.6% Following Analyst Upgrade

Tesla, Inc. (NASDAQ:TSLA)’s stock price was up 1.6% on Friday after Stifel Nicolaus raised their price target on the stock from $265.00 to $287.00. Stifel Nicolaus currently has a buy rating on the stock. Tesla traded as high as $269.44 and last traded at $264.71. Approximately 63,385,668 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 33% from the average daily volume of 94,209,750 shares. The stock had previously closed at $260.48.

Several other brokerages also recently weighed in on TSLA. Royal Bank of Canada raised their target price on shares of Tesla from $236.00 to $249.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday. KGI Securities upgraded Tesla from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $276.00 target price on the stock in a research note on Thursday. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on Tesla from $120.00 to $125.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research note on Thursday. New Street Research lowered Tesla from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $225.00 price target on the stock. in a research note on Wednesday, July 24th. Finally, Mizuho increased their price objective on shares of Tesla from $180.00 to $230.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, July 12th. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seventeen have issued a hold rating and fourteen have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $219.00.

Insiders Place Their Bets

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

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Tesla

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of TSLA. Financial Advocates Investment Management grew its stake in Tesla by 1.8% during the 3rd quarter. Financial Advocates Investment Management now owns 53,003 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock valued at $13,867,000 after acquiring an additional 952 shares in the last quarter. S.A. Mason LLC grew its position in shares of Tesla by 6.8% in the third quarter. S.A. Mason LLC now owns 1,295 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock valued at $339,000 after purchasing an additional 82 shares in the last quarter. Folger Nolan Fleming Douglas Capital Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Tesla by 2.9% in the third quarter. Folger Nolan Fleming Douglas Capital Management Inc. now owns 5,042 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock valued at $1,319,000 after purchasing an additional 142 shares during the last quarter. Oak Harvest Investment Services purchased a new position in Tesla during the third quarter worth approximately $319,000. Finally, Burr Financial Services LLC acquired a new position in Tesla during the third quarter worth $9,892,000. 66.20% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Tesla Trading Up 3.3 %

The company has a market capitalization of $859.97 billion, a PE ratio of 74.97, a PEG ratio of 6.24 and a beta of 2.29. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $229.47 and a 200-day simple moving average of $206.79. The company has a current ratio of 1.91, a quick ratio of 1.40 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08.

Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 23rd. The electric vehicle producer reported $0.72 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.58 by $0.14. Tesla had a net margin of 13.00% and a return on equity of 10.41%. The firm had revenue of $25.18 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $25.47 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.53 earnings per share. Tesla’s quarterly revenue was up 7.8% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts predict that Tesla, Inc. will post 1.75 EPS for the current year.

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.